“The UN General Assembly supported the Ukrainian resolution on Chernobyl: Chornobyl instead of Chernobyl, aid to Ukraine, who voted against.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
Consequences of a Russian drone strike on the radiation protective dome of reactor No. 4 at the Chornobyl NPP on February 14, 2025. Photo: Getty Images Source: “Ukrinform“
Details: The resolution entitled “Strengthening international cooperation and coordination of efforts to study, mitigate and minimize the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster” was supported by the majority of delegations present in the hall.
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In addition to Russia and the USA, the camp of opponents of the document includes Belarus, China, North Korea, Nicaragua, Congo and Niger. Another 39 countries abstained.
The approved document officially recognizes the long-term serious consequences of the accident and emphasizes the need to support the affected communities. The text of the resolution expresses “serious concern” over the damage to the new containment over the destroyed Chernobyl power unit on February 14, 2025, as a result of a Russian drone attack, jeopardizing decades of international efforts to secure the facility.
The approved document officially establishes the change in the spelling of the name of Chernobyl in English: from now on, UN documents will use the Ukrainian transliteration Chornobyl instead of the Soviet Chernobyl. This also applies to the official name of the International Day of Remembrance, celebrated on April 26.
The General Assembly decided to hold a special meeting on April 24, 2026, dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the tragedy, and called on the world to help Ukraine restore the damaged infrastructure of the nuclear power plant.
The position of the United States attracted special attention. The representative of the American delegation explained her decision to vote “against” not by a refusal to support Ukraine’s nuclear security, but by ideological disagreements with UN formulations.
Direct speech of the US representative: “The United States voted against the text because of its reference to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and related language. The 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals advance an agenda of soft global governance that is incompatible with national sovereignty and against US interests.”
Details: At the same time, the American diplomat emphasized that Washington continues to support international nuclear safety standards and efforts to prevent incidents at Ukrainian nuclear facilities in wartime conditions.
Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN Andriy Melnyk, presenting the project, sharply criticized the attempts of Belarus to promote an alternative document. He reminded that Minsk lost the moral right to such initiatives, as it provided its territory for the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which led to the seizure of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant by the Russian occupiers.
“A state’s action that allows another state to use its territory to commit an act of aggression against a third state qualifies as an act of aggression,” Melnyk noted.
Melnyk also emphasized the historical justice of changing the transliteration of the station’s name. According to him, the use of the form Chernobyl comes from a Russian transliteration of the Soviet era, and its continued use is a “continuation of the imperial legacy.”
We will remind: Russian forces seized the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on the first day of a full-scale invasion, February 24, 2022, using it as a springboard for an offensive on Kyiv. The occupation of the station lasted 36 days, during which the Russians violated security protocols and held personnel hostage.