For the first time, Ukraine voted against a UN resolution condemning the US embargo of Cuba

For the first time, Ukraine voted against the UN General Assembly's annual resolution on the need to end the US embargo of Cuba. This was in response to Cuban participation in the war on the side of Russia, said minister of Foreign Affairs Andriy Sybiha.

He noted that Ukraine's vote against the resolution was not sudden and "has serious reasons."

"We remember the Cuban president's wishes for 'success' [to the Russian dictator] Putin in his aggressive war against Ukraine. We heard him well. This year, we decided to close our embassy in Havana and lower the level of our diplomatic relations," Sybiha said.

At the same time, he emphasized that Ukraine's voice in the UN General Assembly is not directed against the Cuban people ("we respect their right to live in prosperity"), but against the inaction of the country's authorities in response to the mass conscription of its citizens into the Russian occupation army.

"Thousands of them have signed contracts, joining the ranks of soldiers who are directly involved in combat operations on Ukrainian soil," the minister emphasized.

According to him, Cuba's unwillingness to stop the massive involvement of its citizens in the Russian war against Ukraine is complicity in the aggression and "must be condemned in the strongest possible terms."

In addition to Ukraine, the United States itself, Argentina, Hungary, Israel, North Macedonia, and Paraguay voted against the document condemning US actions.

• In October 2023, the Center for National Resistance reported that the Russians are massively recruiting Cubans for the war against Ukraine and sending them to the front lines because the occupiers "do not care" about them.
• In July 2024, a Bloomberg interlocutor said that Russia continues to recruit Cubans to participate in the war against Ukraine, despite attempts by the government to stop it.
• In early October 2025, Reuters reported, citing an internal State Department cable, that the Trump administration was mobilizing American diplomats to lobby against the aforementioned UN resolution.
• One of the points of the document was that Cuba and its dictator actively support the Russian-Ukrainian war. According to the United States, after North Korea, Cuba is the largest supplier of foreign troops to the Russian Federation – about 1000-5000 Cubans are fighting in Ukraine.
• At the same time, Cuba claimed that its citizens are not involved in the Russian war against Ukraine.