The United Nations Security Council failed on Friday to pass a draft resolution on the Ukraine-Russia crisis.

The draft, proposed by the United States and Albania, was rejected because it was vetoed by the council's permanent member Russia.

Any negative vote, known as a veto, from the council's five permanent members means a failed resolution.

China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstained.

In explaining China's position on the decision, Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, said any response by the Security Council should be "extremely cautious."

"Any action should be truly conducive to defusing the crisis, rather than adding fuel to fire," Zhang said.

"If not properly handled, or blindly exerting pressure and imposing sanctions, it may only lead to more casualties, more property loss, more complicated and chaotic situations, and more difficulties in bridging differences," he said, adding that it may completely shut the door to a peaceful solution, and eventually it is the vast number of innocent people that will be the victims.

"We must draw profound lessons from the extremely painful experience in the past," he said. "For this reason, China abstained in the voting just now."

Zhang reiterated that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states should be respected and that the purposes and principles of the UN Charter should be jointly upheld. China advocates the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, he said.

Zhang said that Ukraine should become a bridge between the East and the West, not an outpost for confrontation between major powers.

(Cover: A United Nations Security Council meeting on the Russia-Ukraine conflict takes place at UN Headquarters in New York City, New York, U.S., February 25, 2022. /CFP)