The United Nations Security Council will vote on Friday on a draft resolution that would condemn Russia for invading Ukraine and require Moscow to immediately and unconditionally withdraw, Reuters reported.

However, the measure will fail since Russia has veto power at the Security Council.

The US-drafted resolution is then expected to be taken up by the 193-member UN General Assembly within days, a senior US administration official said on Thursday.

The draft Security Council resolution, seen by Reuters, would condemn Russia's "aggression" against Ukraine, demand it "immediately, completely, and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces" and reverse its recognition of separatist regions in eastern Ukraine as independent.

The text also reaffirms the council's "commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders."

Although the draft resolution would be blocked, Washington views the Council "as the critical venue in which Russia must be forced to explain itself," said the senior US administration official. "We're not going to abandon our principles. We're not going to stand by and do nothing."

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “military operation” in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine on Wednesday night, in an announcement which came as the UN Security Council convened to discuss the crisis in Ukraine.

In fact, just minutes before Putin announced the start of the operation, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the Russian President to withdraw his troops from Ukraine.