The Wall Street Journal reports:

United Nations members called on Russia to withdraw from Ukraine, approving the latest U.S.-backed effort to pressure Moscow a year after the invasion—but also showing the limits of global support for Kyiv.

Thursday’s resolution drew the support of 141 member countries, with seven countries voting against the measure and 32 abstaining, a similar outcome to previous resolutions related to the war.

The resolution included a demand for Russia to “immediately, completely, and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.”

Unlike the U.N. Security Council, where Russia as a permanent member wields veto power, the broader General Assembly that voted Thursday doesn’t have the ability to enforce its resolutions. But U.S. officials sought to use the vote to show that global opposition to the war remains strong as the conflict neared the one-year mark.

“One hundred forty-one countries voted in favor of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine,” said Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.N. ambassador from the U.S., which was a sponsor of the resolution.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said before the vote that “never in history has the line between good and evil been so clear.”

Still, the demand that Russia withdraw was a bitter pill for Moscow’s friends. Besides Russia, the other no votes were Belarus, Eritrea, Mali, Nicaragua, North Korea and Syria. The 32 abstentions included China, Iran, India and South Africa and other developing countries that have remained mostly neutral or skeptical of Western motives. [Continue reading…]