US refusing to co-sponsor UN motion backing Ukraine ahead of war anniversary, diplomats say

The US is refusing to co-sponsor a draft UN resolution marking three years since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine that backs Kyiv's territorial integrity and again demands Russia withdraw its troops, three diplomatic sources told Reuters, in a potential stark shift by Ukraine's most powerful Western ally.

Countries can decide to co-sponsor a resolution up until a vote. The 193-member General Assembly is due to vote on Monday, said diplomats. General Assembly resolutions are not binding but carry political weight, reflecting a global view on the war.

"In previous years, the United States has consistently co-sponsored such resolutions in support of a just peace in Ukraine," one of the sources, who like the others requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said on Thursday.

The first diplomatic source told Reuters that the resolution was being sponsored by more than 50 countries, declining to identify them.

A second diplomatic source who also requested anonymity said: "For now, the situation is they (the US) won't sign it." Efforts are ongoing to seek support from other countries instead, including the Global South, the source added.

A spokesperson for the US diplomatic mission to the United Nations in Geneva did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The UN vote comes amid a widening rift between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and US President Donald Trump, who is trying to rapidly end the war in Ukraine and whose team has held talks with Russia without the involvement of Kyiv.

The row is a major political crisis for Ukraine, which has used tens of billions of dollars of US military aid agreed under the previous U.S. administration to weather Russia's invasion and also benefited from diplomatic support.

The draft UN resolution, seen by Reuters, "calls for a de-escalation, an early cessation of hostilities and a peaceful resolution of the war against Ukraine ... in line with the UN Charter and international law".

It also "recalls the need for full implementation of its relevant resolutions adopted in response to the aggression against Ukraine, in particular its demand that the Russian Federation immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders".

Russia has seized some 20% of Ukraine and is slowly but steadily gaining territory in the east. Moscow said its "special military operation" responded to an existential threat posed by Kyiv's pursuit of NATO membership. Ukraine and the West call Russia's action an imperialist land grab.