Linda Thomas-Greenfield

Russia and China utilized their veto power to block the UN Security Council's draft resolution proposed by the United States, which aimed at achieving a ceasefire in Gaza and securing the release of hostages held by Hamas. According to reports from the BBC and AFP, cited by BTA, Moscow accused Washington of engaging in a "hypocritical spectacle" by failing to exert pressure on Israel.

The U.N. General Assembly will turn its attention to artificial intelligence on Thursday, weighing a resolution that lays out the potentially transformational technology's pros and cons while calling for the establishment of international standards.

The United Nations Security Council was expected to vote Friday on a resolution to boost aid to Gaza, as the world body warned the Israel-Hamas war was pushing the Palestinian territory towards famine.

Separate diplomatic efforts were also under way for a fresh pause in the worst-ever Gaza war, which was triggered by an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel in October.

A total of 153 countries called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza in a vote at the UN General Assembly.

The resolution demanding an end to hostilities by Israel and the Islamist movement "Hamas" is non-binding. It follows a Security Council vote under a procedure set in motion by the UN secretary-general, in which such a ceasefire text was blocked by the United States.

North Korea's ambassador made a rare appearance at the UN Security Council on Monday to defend his country's launch of a spy satellite, as leader Kim Jong Un studied images including of the White House and Pentagon.

Western powers, Japan and South Korea have said North Korea violated Security Council resolutions by launching the satellite last week.

Russia's U.N. ambassador on Monday dismissed U.S. and European Union descriptions of its presidency of the Security Council this month as an April Fool's joke and announced a meeting to be chaired by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on defending the principles of the U.N. Charter, which Moscow is widely accused of breaking by invading Ukraine.

Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

143 out of 193 countries in the UN condemned the annexation of Ukrainian regions by Russia

Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Önal held a telephone conversation on June 2 with Permanent Representative of the US to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield discussing the developments in Syria including Turkey's planned military operation into the neighboring country.

China and Russia have vetoed a US attempt to impose new UN sanctions on North Korea over its renewed ballistic missile launches, publicly splitting the organization's Security Council for the first time since the body began imposing sanctions on Pyongyang in 2006, Reuters reported.

A majority of the UN's Security Council condemned Russia's decision to recognize two independent breakaway republics in eastern Ukraine and Russian President Vladimir Putin's order to send Russian troops there at an extraordinary meeting last night, agencies reported. During the same meeting, the Russian representative in the Security Council assured that Moscow is open to diplomacy.