Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
The move unexpectedly placed Washington alongside Russia and several of Moscow’s allies during a session typically marked by broad consensus.
A routine UN vote on nuclear safety turned contentious this week after the United States rejected a resolution addressing the long-term fallout of the Chornobyl disaster.
A live UN broadcast showed that 97 countries backed the text, while 39 abstained and only a handful — including the US, Russia, Belarus, China and North Korea — voted against it.
Resolution details
The measure, debated at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, sought to strengthen international cooperation on managing the enduring consequences of the 1986 explosion at the Chornobyl nuclear plant.
The Kyiv Post reports that the document reviewed by member states reaffirms that the effects of the Chornobyl catastrophe remain acute for surrounding regions and require sustained global engagement.
According to the outlet’s account of the vote, the text also highlights damage to the New Safe Confinement structure on Feb. 14, 2025, which Ukraine says was caused by a Russian drone strike that threatened decades of internationally funded containment work.
Another provision directs the UN to adopt the Ukrainian spelling “Chornobyl” across official materials, including the name of the annual remembrance day on April 26.
It further sets April 24, 2026, as the date for a special General Assembly meeting marking 40 years since the disaster.
Kyiv responds
Ukraine’s permanent representative to the UN sharply criticized Belarus for advancing an alternative text, saying Minsk’s actions were “cynical” given its assistance to Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Kyiv Post cites him for recalling that Russian forces entering from Belarus seized the Chornobyl site in the opening days of the war.
The envoy also welcomed the formal shift away from the Soviet-era spelling “Chernobyl,” calling the updated transliteration an assertion of Ukrainian identity and a step away from imperial linguistic norms.
US explanation
Washington’s delegate told the chamber that its objection was unrelated to nuclear security or support for Ukraine. Instead, the diplomat cited references to the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, according to reporting from the Kyiv Post.
The US representative argued that these elements promote a form of global governance Washington considers incompatible with national sovereignty.
She said the United States would nevertheless continue backing international nuclear safety programs and efforts aimed at preventing incidents at Ukrainian facilities.
Sources: Kyiv Post, UN broadcast
