Marta Gichko10:52, 11.11.25

According to diplomats, amendments to the text could undermine the long-standing international consensus in support of Ukraine.

The Donald Trump administration is demanding that a key UN General Assembly resolution on the situation in the occupied territories of Ukraine be amended to remove references to the state’s territorial integrity and condemnation of the Russian occupation, the Kyiv Post reported , citing diplomatic sources.

The reference is to Ukraine’s annual resolution “The State of Human Rights in the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine,” which traditionally reaffirms Kyiv’s sovereignty and documents the crimes of the Russian occupation authorities. Last year, the document was supported by 78 countries, including the United States.

Now, according to two diplomatic sources, Washington is insisting that the text replace the language about “territorial integrity” and “aggression” with a more neutral definition: “war in Ukraine.”

Western diplomats warn that such a move could undermine the UN’s consistent annual stance on Russia’s incursion and signal to Moscow that American support is waning.

“This is yet another example of Washington abandoning Ukraine’s core interests at a critical diplomatic juncture,” the Kyiv Post quotes a European diplomat as saying. “If this language disappears, it will signal to the Kremlin that the US is no longer leading the defense of international order.”

The vote is just around the corner

The General Assembly’s Third Committee, which deals with human rights, will consider the document in the coming weeks. Ukraine’s European partners are currently lobbying the United States to change its position before the vote.

For Kyiv, the stakes are extremely high: the resolution not only condemns the Russian occupation, but also forms the legal basis for future investigations by the International Criminal Court.

The controversy surrounding the resolution’s text coincided with the publication of a new report by the UN Independent International Commission on the Elimination of Torture, which confirmed that Russian troops are systematically committing crimes against humanity – mass murder, deportation, and forced displacement of Ukrainians.

“These are not isolated incidents. They are part of a state policy aimed at destroying Ukrainian identity in the occupied territories,” said Commission Chairman Erik Mjoze.

While US officials officially call the changes “an attempt to make the document more inclusive,” allies believe it is just another step toward “normalizing” the Russian occupation.

“This isn’t about words. This is about whether the world will continue to recognize the occupation as illegal or begin to treat it as a fact of life,” one European diplomat emphasized.

(c)UNIAN 2025