The move came at the EP’s plenary session in Strasbourg, France, with lawmakers calling for a redoubling of Western support for Ukraine and the prosecution of the Russian and Belarusian officials at a tribunal.
The cut passage had been proposed by the EP's Left Group, a caucus of MEPs from socialist and communist parties. It read: "People across Europe are deeply concerned about a war that could potentially lead to a war between nuclear powers.”
The passage should have been uncontroversial: the leaders of all four nuclear powers involved in the conflict - Russia, France, the UK and US - have made explicit statements regarding the potential for nuclear weapons to be used and how they would respond to such a situation. In addition, the possibility of a direct shooting war between NATO and Russian forces has arisen more than once since February 2022, not just due to NATO proximity to the conflict but also the spread of fake news in the Western press.
16 February 2023, 17:03 GMT
Meanwhile, in the resolution the EP called for the defeat of Russia at any cost and called on EU member states to adopt the latest tranche of proposed anti-Russia sanctions. It pledged the EP’s support for arming Ukraine for as long as necessary and called on Western nations to seriously consider giving Ukraine fighter jets, helicopters, adequate missile systems, and vast quantities of ammunition. The body also pledged its support for Ukraine reconquering five former provinces which joined the Russian Federation after holding plebiscites on the question - votes Western powers have refused to recognize as legitimate.
The resolution was adopted by 444 votes in favor, 26 votes against and 37 abstentions.
Russia launched the special operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, after months of negotiations with Kiev and the NATO powers over Moscow’s security red lines failed to achieve results, and amid fears of an imminent Ukrainian offensive against the breakaway Russophone republics in the eastern Donbass region.
The operation aims to halt attacks on Russian-speakers by neo-Nazi forces and prevent the stationing of NATO offensive weapons on Ukrainian soil by rendering Ukraine a neutral state.
During the conflict, the two breakaway republics, plus two other Russian-speaking provinces, held referendums on leaving Ukraine and joining the Russian Federation. They followed Crimea, which made the decision in 2014 after a government in Kiev that came to power following a US-backed coup unleashed attacks against ethnic Russians and Russian-speaking Ukrainians.