Ukraine rupture grows as US sides with Russia at UN

The United States sided with Russia twice Monday at the United Nations, as they sought to avoid any condemnation of Moscow's invasion of its neighbor three years ago.

The two votes highlighted a seismic shift in the balance of power at the UN, where Washington had steadfastly voted for resolutions that favored Ukraine and condemned Russia, until the abrupt rupture with Kyiv, reports AFP.

As US President Donald Trump stakes out a new position on the Ukraine war, Washington and Russia aligned first at a morning vote at the General Assembly and again at an afternoon vote of the Security Council.

A European-backed text won 93 votes for at the General Assembly and 18 votes against, with 65 abstentions and Washington sided with Moscow and Russian allies Belarus, North Korea and Sudan to vote against the text.

The resolution -- which won far less support compared to previous ones on the war -- strongly criticizes Russia, and emphasizes Ukraine's territorial integrity and inviolability of its borders.

Washington drafted a rival resolution amid an intensifying feud between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

But Ukraine's European allies pushed to heavily reword the US text to say that the "full-scale invasion of Ukraine" had been carried out by Russia, meaning Washington ultimately did not vote in favor of its own text.

Undeterred, the United States brought the earlier, unchanged text to a vote at the Security Council in the afternoon, securing its passage with 10 votes for and none against -- alongside five abstentions.

The abstentions were France, Britain, Denmark, Greece, and Slovenia.