2026 Is Already Challenging the U.N.

The resolution expressed “grave alarm” over a Russian strike last February that compromised primary safety functions at the power plant, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. (The text also formalized the Ukrainian spelling of the site, “Chornobyl.”) It passed 97-8, with the United States joining Belarus, China, Cuba, North Korea, Nicaragua, Niger, and Russia in opposition; 39 countries abstained.

In early December, as the vote tally flashed across the United Nations General Assembly, rumor hardened into fact: The United States had aligned with a handful of authoritarian regimes to oppose a Ukrainian resolution on the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The move seemed to symbolize a shift for Washington within the international body.

In early December, as the vote tally flashed across the United Nations General Assembly, rumor hardened into fact: The United States had aligned with a handful of authoritarian regimes to oppose a Ukrainian resolution on the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The move seemed to symbolize a shift for Washington within the international body.

The resolution expressed “grave alarm” over a Russian strike last February that compromised primary safety functions at the power plant, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. (The text also formalized the Ukrainian spelling of the site, “Chornobyl.”) It passed 97-8, with the United States joining Belarus, China, Cuba, North Korea, Nicaragua, Niger, and Russia in opposition; 39 countries abstained.

The United States explained its unusual opposition by citing a reference in the resolution to the U.N.’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The language—noting how Chernobyl cooperation “can contribute” to the 2030 agenda—is boilerplate in many General Assembly texts, helping spons