UN General Assembly has agreed to vote on a draft resolution on Ukraine, tentatively on Wednesday, expecting no fewer than 100 countries to address the Assembly.

The agreement was reached at an emergency special session of the General Assembly to discuss the Ukraine crisis on Monday.

Although assembly resolutions are non-binding, they are considered to carry political weight as they express the will of the wider UN membership.

Assembly President Abdulla Shahid said at the session that the military offensive launched by Russia five days ago was a violation of the integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine.

Mr Shahid cited the UN Charter, the organisation’s founding document, which outlined a world where countries settled disputes by peaceful means, without the threat or use of force.

“The ongoing military offensive is inconsistent with this. It is an affront to the founders of this organisation and everything it stands for. The violence must stop. Humanitarian law and international humanitarian law must be respected. And diplomacy and dialogue must prevail,” he said.

Countries observed a minute’s silence during the emergency special session, which followed a meeting by the Security Council on Sunday. Council members voted in favour of the General Assembly convening after Russia vetoed a resolution on Friday that would have deplored the assault on Ukraine.

The General Assembly has only held 10 emergency sessions since 1950, in line with the adoption of resolution 377A(V), widely known as ‘Uniting for Peace’.

The resolution gives the assembly power to take up international peace and security matters when the security council cannot act due to dissension among its five permanent members (China, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Russia) that have veto power.

Ukraine’s ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya remarked that a full-fledged war was unfolding in the centre of Europe for the first time since the UN was established.

Speaking through an interpreter, Russian ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said his country’s actions were being “distorted and thwarted,” with media and social networks proliferating what he called “these lies.”

The UN will launch two coordinated emergency appeals for Ukraine and the region on Tuesday. One will address escalating humanitarian needs inside the country, including rising internal displacement, while the other will respond to the needs of people who have fled elsewhere.

(NAN)