India abstains from voting on Russian-led draft resolution at UNSC

India abstained from voting on a Russian-drafted resolution in the UN Security Council (UNSC) over a Ukraine humanitarian situation, which has been widely criticized for not referring to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

India and UAE joined the West in abstaining from the resolution that failed at the UNSC meeting with only Russia and China voting in favour and the remaining 13 members abstaining.

"Russia is the aggressor, the attacker the invader, the sole party in Ukraine, engaged in a campaign of brutality against the people of Ukraine. And they want us to pass a resolution that does not acknowledge their culpability," US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told the UNSC.

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"It really is unconscionable that Russia would have the audacity to put forward a resolution asking the international community to solve a humanitarian crisis that Russia alone created," Greenfield noted.

"If Russia cared about the humanitarian situation, it would stop bombing children and end their siege tactics. But they haven't," Britain's UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward told the council after the vote.

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China, the only country to support Russia by voting in favour of the resolution, stated UNSC should play its role in the humanitarian situation in Ukraine. Zhang Jun, Permanent Representative of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations pointed to Beijing's six-point initiative and told the Security Council members that the vote in favour was a call to the international community to prioritize the humanitarian situation in Ukraine.

The Russian Resolution, which did not refer to Moscow's role in the crisis of Ukraine, called upon all parties concerned to allow safe and unhindered passage to destinations outside of Ukraine, including to foreign nationals without discrimination, and facilitate safe and unhindered access to humanitarian assistance to those in need in and around Ukraine, taking into account the particular needs of women, girls, men, and boys, older persons and persons with disabilities.