Ukraine

The UN General Assembly on Thursday called for ending the war in Ukraine and demanded Russia’s immediate withdrawal from the country, in line with the UN Charter. … The results were 141 Member States in favour and seven against - Belarus, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Eritrea, Mali, Nicaragua, Russia and Syria. Among the 32 abstentions were China, India and Pakistan.

UN head António Guterres has condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine as an "affront" to the world's collective conscience at a meeting of the General Assembly nearly one year on.

Marking one year since Russia invaded Ukraine, the UN General Assembly will vote next week on a draft resolution stressing “the need to reach, as soon as possible, a comprehensive, just and lasting peace” in line with the founding United Nations Charter.

[…] Whether it is a national or international court, legal inquiry will undoubtedly turn to Russia’s eight-year military campaign in eastern Ukraine in the lead up to its full-scale war. This is where the now defunct OSCE Special Monitoring Mission can once again take centre stage.

Amid the influx of weapons pouring into Ukraine from abroad, all arms transfers must abide strictly by international transit, safeguard and control regimes, and “must not derail the aspiration for peace”, the senior UN disarmament official told the Security Council on Wednesday.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) published an interim verdict ruling partially admissible Ukraine’s allegations of Russia’s human rights violations in eastern Ukraine, setting a precedent as the first international court to prove Russia’s occupation in Donbas since 2014.

The European Union is doubling the number of Ukrainian troops it aims to train to 30,000 as it seeks to bolster Kyiv’s fightback against Russia, EU officials said Wednesday. The 27-nation bloc set up a program   Ukrainian forces in November with the initial target of training 15,000.

The UN Secretary-General said on Wednesday that he did not believe that there was an opportunity yet, to organise “a serious peace negotiation” between the warring parties in Ukraine, nearly a year on from Russia’s full-scale invasion.

The UN on Wednesday said that it aims to increase the number of inter-agency convoys providing aid to parts of Ukraine “close to the frontlines”, in support of work being carried out by local organisations and volunteers.

Ukraine and the European Union will hold a summit in Kyiv on 3 February to discuss financial and military support, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said in a statement on Monday (2 January).