THE United Nations general assembly has demanded that Russia urgently withdraw its military and other personnel from Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and immediately return the facility to Ukraine.

A resolution passed on Thursday also reiterates the general assembly’s demands for Russia to immediately “cease its aggression against Ukraine” and withdraw all troops.

The resolution was approved by a vote of 99 to nine, with 60 countries abstaining and 25 not voting.

Russia was joined by Belarus, Cuba, Eritrea, Mali, Nicaragua, Syria, Burundi and North Korea in opposing the resolution. 

China, India, South Africa and many Middle Eastern countries were among those abstaining.

Ukrainian UN ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya told the meeting that Russia “continues to violate key principles of technological and physical nuclear security” and continues to attack the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

But Russian deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyansky claimed that the real goal of Ukraine and its Western supporters in pushing through the resolution was to win the UN assembly’s “blessing” for the outcome of last month’s Ukraine peace conference in Switzerland, while “sneaking in political elements.”

Mr Polyansky said the only threat to nuclear facilities in Ukraine was from Kiev’s “regular, reckless attacks” on the nuclear power station, related infrastructure and the nearby city where plant employees and their families live.