RUSSIA has welcomed the United States’s “balanced position” after Washington voted with Moscow at the United Nations general assembly to avoid condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The US refused to blame Russia for the war in votes on three UN resolutions aimed at ending the three-year conflict.

Separately, the UN security council backed a US-led resolution calling for an end to the war in Ukraine, without explicitly naming Russia as the aggressor.

It comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he is open to offering the US access to rare minerals, including resources from Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine.

His offer follows reports that US President Donald Trump has been pressuring Ukraine to cede control of some of its mineral resources in exchange for US support.

According to a Ukrainian minister, a deal is currently being finalised.

In a state TV interview on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was open to offering resources for joint projects with US partners, including mining operations in Russia’s “new territories,” a reference to parts of eastern Ukraine that Russia has occupied since 2022.

The growing divide at the UN follows Mr Trump’s decision to open direct negotiations with Russia on ending the war, dismaying Ukraine and its European allies by excluding them from the preliminary talks last week.

In the UN general assembly, the US joined Russia in voting against a Europe-backed Ukrainian resolution that condemned Moscow’s aggression and called for an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops.

Later, the US abstained from voting on its own competing resolution after European nations, led by France, amended the text to explicitly state that Russia was the aggressor.

The votes coincided with the third anniversary of the war and came as Mr Trump hosted French President Emmanuel Macron in Washington.

The US then pushed for a separate vote on its original draft in the UN security council, where resolutions are legally binding.

The measure passed with a 10-0 vote, as Britain, France, Denmark, Greece and Slovenia abstained.

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is set to meet Mr Trump today following discussions with Mr Macron over the weekend.

According to government sources, Sir Keir and Mr Macron “compared notes” on Sunday in an effort to present a united European front in talks with the US president.