United Nations Headquarters. File photo – AP
The UN General Assembly will continue to defend Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty regardless of the outcome of elections being held around the world this year, its president said on Wednesday, adding that “no state has the right to invade another state.”
“This is a matter of law, so the position cannot be changed,” U.N. General Assembly President Denis Francis told The Associated Press during his first visit to Ukraine as Ukrainian forces fight a third year of Russian aggression.
The United Nations’ main policy-making body broadly supports efforts to preserve Ukraine’s sovereignty, Pope Francis said.
But elections this year in the United States and several key European Union countries are raising concerns about a possible policy shift from Western countries that have provided vital military and financial support to Ukraine to thwart the Kremlin’s ambitions.
“We will wait and see over time what the election results will mean for the international community as a whole and for the Ukrainian state in particular,” Pope Francis said.
“Whatever the outcome of the elections, I am convinced that the Ukrainian people will not give up,” he said. “They will not accept it and will not allow their homeland to be dominated by a foreign power.”
Speaking in Kiev at the end of a two-day visit, Pope Francis called on Russia to “immediately withdraw all its forces from Ukrainian territory,” referring to a UN General Assembly resolution approved shortly after the war began. Now, more than two years later, Moscow’s forces are slowly seizing new territory in eastern Ukraine.
Pope Francis met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other government officials to discuss peace and international security. Francis pledged his support for Zelenskyy’s peace plan, which was discussed at a recent international conference in Switzerland attended by numerous countries and organizations, including the United Nations.
“I think there are a lot of important elements in[Zelenskiy’s plan]that could provide a basis for dialogue when the time is right,” he said. “We’ll see where it goes.”
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