The US and Israel recently sided with Russia by voting against a resolution that condemned Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
The resolution was put forward by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Monday, 24 February 2025, the third anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
The breakdown in relations between the US and Ukraine was also seen on Friday, 28 February 2025 when President Zelenskyy of Ukraine met President Trump in the Oval Office of the White House.
During the televised meeting, President Trump and his Vice, JD Vance berated the Ukrainian President for not expressing his gratitude and Trump accused him of “gambling with World War Three.”
President Zelenskyy was also criticised for not wearing a suit while his country is at war. The irony of Elon Musk wearing a MAGA baseball cap and a tee shirt in the Oval Office less than three weeks earlier was not lost on most.
The vote marks the first time that Israel has voted against Ukraine since the war began, demonstrating the breakdown in diplomatic relations between the two as Ukraine has previously voted to investigate the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
Washington D.C. voted in favour of a similar resolution just two years ago, highlighting the contrast between the former Biden administration and the current administration under Trump.
The vote is one of many instances which shows the breakdown in relations between the US and its allies in Europe.
The resolution that the US and Israel voted against, stated that it was Moscow and not Kyiv that started the war just over three years ago in 2022.
The resolution passed with 93 votes. There were 63 abstentions and 18 votes against the resolution (which included the US, Russia, Israel, Belarus, and Hungary).
The US put forward an alternative resolution to the UN Security Council that would blame neither Russia nor Ukraine for the invasion instead it called for an end to the conflict, but they abstained from the vote after pro-Ukrainian language was included.
The unamended version of the US resolution however, was passed at the more powerful 15 member UN Security Council in which five countries abstained. They were the UK, Denmark, France, Greece, and Slovenia.
Russia is one of the UN Security Council’s five permanent members, so it has the power to veto any resolution put forward.
Due to this, the UNGA has been the main place for discussions of the war.
