By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations overwhelmingly&nbsp;isolated&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;on Thursday, marking&nbsp;one&nbsp;year&nbsp;since Moscow invaded&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;by calling for a "comprehensive, just and lasting peace" and again demanding Moscow withdraw its troops and stop fighting.
Just a day after China's top diplomat visited Moscow and pledged a deeper partnership with&nbsp;Russia, Beijing abstained on the vote - the fourth time it has done&nbsp;so on such action since the&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;invaded&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;on Feb. 24 last&nbsp;year.
With a round of applause, the resolution was adopted on Thursday with 141 votes in favor and 32 abstentions. Six countries joined&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;to vote no - Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, Mali, Nicaragua and Syria.
"This resolution is a powerful signal of unflagging global support for&nbsp;Ukraine,"&nbsp;Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy posted on Twitter after the vote.
Russia's Deputy&nbsp;U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy dismised the action at the United Nations as "useless," posting on Twitter: "Will it bring peace? No! Will it embolden&nbsp;warmongers? Yes! Thus prolonging Ukrainian tragedy."
Russia&nbsp;had described the resolution as "unbalanced and anti-Russian" and urged countries to vote no if it could not be amended. Moscow ally Belarus failed in a bid to change the text with amendments including "prevention of further escalation of the conflict through feeding the parties with lethal weapons."
Western powers have provided&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;with billions of dollars in weapons since&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;invaded. The United States and NATO have in the past week accused China of considering supplying arms to&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;and&nbsp;warned Beijing against such a move.
"One&nbsp;year&nbsp;into the&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;crisis brutal facts offer an ample proof that sending weapons will not bring peace," China's deputy&nbsp;U.N. Ambassador Dai Bing said ahead of the vote. "Adding fuel to the fire will only exacerbate tensions."
China's abstentions appear to reflect a bid to stay on the diplomatic fence over the&nbsp;war&nbsp;in&nbsp;Ukraine. Beijing says the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries must be respected, but - in a nod to&nbsp;Russia's unease about NATO - believes all security concerns should be addressed.
'VENEER OF NEUTRALITY'
China did vote against two resolutions adopted by the&nbsp;U.N. General Assembly last&nbsp;year&nbsp;that took specific action - suspending&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;from the Human Rights Council and recognizing&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;must be responsible for making reparations to&nbsp;Ukraine.
China attempts "to maintain this veneer of neutrality, professing to the world that they're not taking a side - but they've clearly chosen a side," U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Thursday.
He said China "has been providing important support to&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;over the course of the last&nbsp;year," citing non-lethal assistance provided by Chinese companies tied to the state.
Moscow has been trying to chip away at its international isolation. As&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;and the West have vied for diplomatic influence, some states - particularly in the global South - have grown concerned about paying the price for being squeezed in the middle of an intense geopolitical rivalry.
"While we support the present resolution's focus on the principles of the charter and international law, it certainly brings us no closer to laying the foundations for a durable peace and bringing and end to devastation and destruction," said South Africa's&nbsp;U.N. Ambassador Mathu Joyini, who abstained.
Brazil voted for the resolution, but its Ambassador Ronaldo Costa Filho said the "time has come to open space for dialogue and to begin reconstruction."
The General Assembly has been the focus for&nbsp;U.N. action on&nbsp;Ukraine, with the 15-member Security Council paralyzed due to veto power by&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;and the United States along with China, France and Britain.
The Security Council has held dozens of meetings on&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;in the past&nbsp;year&nbsp;and will again discuss the&nbsp;war&nbsp;on Friday at a ministerial gathering, due to be attended by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Diplomats say&nbsp;Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is not scheduled to attend.
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(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Costas Pitas and Lincoln Feast.)

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Russia isolated as U.N. marks one year of Ukraine war