Sierra Leone has on Wednesday 2nd March 2022 joined 140 other nations to vote overwhelming in favour of the General Assembly resolution on aggression against Ukraine by Russia.

The United Nations General Assembly ordered the vote to reprimand Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and demanded that Moscow stop fighting and withdraw its military forces, an action that aims to diplomatically isolate Russia at the world body.

The resolution, supported by 141 of the assembly’s 193 members, ended a rare emergency session called by the U.N. Security Council and as Ukrainian forces battled on in the port of Kherson in the face of air strikes and a devastating bombardment that forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee.

The text of the resolution “deplores” Russia’s “aggression against Ukraine.” The last time Security Council convened an emergency session of the General Assembly was in 1982, according to U.N. website.

Thirty-five members including China abstained and five countries including Russia, Syria and Belarus voted against the resolution. While General Assembly resolutions are non-binding, they carry political weight.

In a statement delivered by Ambassador Michael Imran Kanu, Deputy Permanent Representative for Legal Affairs, Sierra Leone called for the full respect of the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

“We also urged for good-faith diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict,” he said.