Washington/ Kyiv: Russia vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding that Moscow immediately stop its attack on Ukraine and withdraw all troops, a defeat the United States and its supporters knew was inevitable but said would highlight Russia’s global isolation.
The vote on Friday was 11 in favour, with Russia voting no and China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstaining, which showed significant but not total opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of his country’s smaller and militarily weaker neighbour.
The resolution’s failure paves the way for supporters to call for a quick vote on a similar resolution in the 193-member U.N. General Assembly, where there are no vetoes.
There was no immediate word on a timetable for an assembly vote.
The vote was delayed for two hours.
The United States and Albania, which co-sponsored the resolution, and their supporters scrambled behind the scenes to get wavering nations to support the resolution.
China’s decision to abstain, rather than use its veto alongside usual ally Russia, was seen as a diplomatic achievement.
Ukraine’s military said it has shot down a Russian military transport plane with paratroopers on board. According to a statement from the military’s General Staff, the Il-76 heavy transport plane was shot down near Vasylkiv, a city 40 kilometres south of Kyiv. The Russian military has not commented on the incident so far, and the report could not be immediately verified.
Zelenskiy had a dire message for Ukrainians in the night :
“This night will be the hardest… We must withstand,” he said in an address. “This night the enemy will be using all available means to break our resistance. This night they will launch an assault.”
“This night will be harder than the day. Many cities of our state are under attack: Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, our boys and girls in the Donbas, the cities of the south, special attention to Kyiv,” he added. “We can’t lose the capital.”
A reporter for the Kyiv Independent is reporting “extremely hard combat” near the Kyiv Zoo. The Washington Post’s correspondent in Kyiv is reporting “dozens and dozens” of explosions heard.
BBC has also reported a large explosion heard in Maidan square, and multiple blasts in Troieshchyna, where that thermal power station is. Burning vehicles have also been seen on Kyiv’s Peremonhy Ave.
Nick Walsh, CNN’s reporter in Kherson, in the south of the country reports heavy fighting over a key bridge as Russian forces move through the area.
A CNN reporter in the capital says there is heavy fighting in Obolon in the city’s north, while other reports note clashes in Vasylkiv, in the southwest outskirts. Just over the river to the East is Troieshchyna where there are several reports of Russian forces attacking a thermal power station. It’s the second time in 24 hours Russia has targeted the power plant, and Ukrainian forces are attempting to repel them, according to the Kyiv Independent.