Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 March 2023
The resolution “Territorial Integrity of Ukraine: Defending the Principles of the Charter of the United Nations” was adopted by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on October 12, 2022, with 143 UN member states in favor, five against, thirty-five abstentions, and ten not voting. It is another important UNGA resolution on Ukraine, after the UNGA qualified as aggression Russia's invasion of Ukraine since February 24, 2022 in its resolution of 2 March 2022. That resolution had 141 states voting in favor, thus a slight increase in votes supporting Ukraine's rights under international law can be seen in the resolution at issue.
1 G.A. Res. ES-11/1, U.N. Doc. A/RES/ES-11/4 (Oct. 12, 2022).
2 Vladimir Putin, On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians (July 12, 2021), http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/page/101.
3 Id.
4 Id.
5 See further in the context of the Baltic States: Lauri Mälksoo, Illegal Annexation and State Continuity. The Case of the Incorporation of the Baltic States by the USSR (2nd ed., 2022).
6 Int'l L. Comm'n, Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, art. 41, ¶ 2 (2001).
7 Statement of the MFA of Ukraine on the illegitimacy of the Russian Federation's presence in the UN Security Council and in the United Nations as a whole (Dec. 26, 2022), https://mfa.gov.ua/en/news/zayava-mzs-ukrayini-shchodo-nelegitimnosti-perebuvannya-rosijskoyi-federaciyi-v-radi-bezpeki-oon-ta-organizaciyi-obyednanih-nacij-u-cilomu.