UN votes to hold emergency General Assembly session on Ukraine: India abstains

United Nationa, Feb 28: The United Nations Security Council voted on Sunday to hold a rare emergency special session of the General Assembly to discuss Russia's attack on Ukraine. India abstained, while Russia voted against the resolution and 11 council members voted in favour.

Speaking at the UNSC, India's Permanent Rep to UN, TS Tirumurti, said, "we continue to be deeply concerned about the safety and security of the Indian nationals including a large number of Indian students who are still stranded in Ukraine."

"We reiterate our call for an immediate cessation of violence and an end to all hostilities. Our PM has advocated this strongly in his recent conversations with the leadership of the Russian Federation & Ukraine," he said.

"We welcome today's announcement by both sides to hold talks at the Belarus border. We continue to be deeply concerned about the safety and security of the Indian nationals including a large number of Indian students who are still stranded in Ukraine," he added.

The 15-nation Security Council met on Sunday afternoon to hold a vote on the emergency special session of the General Assembly on Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Only 10 such emergency sessions of the General Assembly have been held since 1950.

Two days after the Russian veto blocked a UNSC resolution on its aggression against Ukraine, the Security Council voted to convene an emergency special session of the 193-member General Assembly on the crisis.

The vote calling for the session was procedural so none of the five permanent members of the Security Council -- China, France, Russia, UK and the US -- could exercise their vetoes.