UN to vote on Palestine's membership application

The UN Security Council is expected to vote on Palestine's membership application on Thursday afternoon local time.

The Palestinian representative wrote to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on April 2 to request for renewed consideration of its Sept. 23, 2011 application for UN membership. The secretary-general forwarded the request to the Security Council on the next day.

The UN Security Council on April 8 renewed consideration of Palestine's full UN membership application and decided to refer the matter to its Committee on the Admission of New Members.

The committee, comprising all 15 members of the Security Council, has held several rounds of discussions on the matter.

Under the UN Charter, the admission of a new member is decided by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.

Since the council has referred the application to its Committee on the Admission of New Members, the committee will deliberate on the matter and report its conclusions to the council. The council will then, by resolution, decide to make a recommendation to the General Assembly.

As admission to UN membership is considered a substantive issue, a Security Council decision requires the agreement of at least nine of the council's 15 members and is subject to veto.

Admission to UN membership requires a two-thirds majority at the General Assembly.

Palestine is currently a non-member observer state of the United Nations.

In 1974, the General Assembly adopted Resolution 3237, approving the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as an observer. In December 1988, the assembly acknowledged the proclamation of the State of Palestine and decided that Palestine should be used in place of the PLO, maintaining Palestine in the non-state observer category.

In July 1998, the General Assembly elevated Palestine to a status higher than all other observers. In November 2012, the General Assembly adopted a resolution to accord Palestine the status of a non-member observer state of the United Nations.

UN to vote on Palestine's membership application

Russia said on Tuesday that it repelled various attacks from Ukraine, while Ukraine claimed strikes on Russian targets in several regions in the past 24 hours.

According to the Russian Ministry of Defense's war report on Tuesday, the western group of the Russian forces repelled five attacks by the Ukrainian Army. The southern group of the Russian military secured advantageous positions and caused losses to Ukrainian personnel and equipment during the battle. The central group repelled nine counterattacks by the Ukrainian Army. The Russian army also targeted and struck a Ukrainian drone assembly workshop.

On the same day, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces released a war report stating that there were 96 battles in the front line area. The Ukrainian army repelled attacks by the Russian army in seven directions, including Kupyansk, Bakhmut and Avdiivka. The Ukrainian air force, rocket artillery and artillery units struck various Russian targets, including personnel and military equipment.

According to Ukrainian media, Ukraine launched large scale attacks against Crimea with the Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) provided by the United States on early Tuesday. Russia initiated its air defense system and temporarily closed the Crimean Bridge. 　　 TASS said on the same day that after the Ukrainian missiles were shot down, Russian army discovered unexploded bombs.

Russia, Ukraine claim mutual strikes