UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations General Assembly on Monday (Nov 14) called for Russia to be held accountable for its conduct in Ukraine.
It voted to approve a resolution recognising that Russia must be responsible for making reparations to the country.
The resolution, supported by 94 of the assembly's 193 members, said Russia, which invaded its neighbour in February, "must bear the legal consequences of all of its internationally wrongful acts, including making reparation for the injury, including any damage, caused by such acts".
The resolution recommends that member states, in co-operation with Ukraine, create an international register to record evidence and claims against Russia.
General Assembly resolutions are non-binding, but they carry political weight.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the resolution an "important" one. "The reparations that Russia will have to pay for what it has done are now part of the international legal reality," Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address.
Kyiv's Ambassador to the UN Sergiy Kyslytsya told the General Assembly before the vote that Russia has targeted everything from factories to residential buildings to hospitals.
"Ukraine will have the daunting task of rebuilding the country and recovering from this war, but that recovery will never be complete without a sense of justice for the victims of the Russian war. It is time to hold Russia accountable," Mr Kyslytsya said.
Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the General Assembly before the vote that the provisions of the resolution are "legally null and void" as he urged countries to vote against it.
"The West is trying to draw out and worsen the conflict and plans to use Russian money for it," Mr Nebenzia said.
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Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said on the Telegram messaging app that the "Anglo-Saxons are clearly trying to scrape together a legal basis for the illegal seizure of Russian assets".
Fourteen countries voted against the resolution, including Russia, China and Iran, while 73 abstained, including Brazil, India and South Africa. Not all member states voted.
In March, 141 members of the General Assembly voted to denounce Russia's invasion, and 143 in October voted to condemn Moscow's attempted annexation of parts of Ukraine.
Mr Zelensky on Saturday said Russian forces destroyed critical infrastructure in the strategic southern city of Kherson before fleeing.
Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians, although the invasion has reduced Ukrainian cities to rubble and killed or wounded thousands.
"It will take a broad international effort to support Ukraine's recovery and reconstruction in order to build a safe and prosperous future for the Ukrainian people," Britain's UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward told the assembly.
"But only one country, Russia, is responsible for the damage to Ukraine, and it is absolutely right, as this resolution sets out, that Russia pay for that damage."
