From AP:
Ukraine's top football official isn't ruling out a boycott by his country of the 2018 World Cup in Russia — but believes such action won't be needed.
Federation president Hrigory Surkis tells The Associated Press "it's probably the easiest thing to say I favor boycotts ... But if we follow and comply with the Minsk agreements, then there will be no necessity to bring this matter to the agenda."
Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko said last week a boycott "needs to be discussed." He urged European allies not to take part in the sport's marquee event in four years as he accuses Russia of sending troops to fight alongside rebels in Ukraine's east.
Surkis, who has been re-elected to UEFA's executive committee, says "let's wait, let's not be pessimistic."
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki speaking at a March 24 press briefing in Washington on the debate around providing arms to Ukraine:
"Our focus from the outset of the crisis has been on supporting Ukraine and on pursuing a diplomatic solution that respects Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. We are constantly assessing our policies on Ukraine to ensure they are responsive, appropriate, and calibrated to achieve our objectives. While we will not go into the details of internal policy deliberations, we continue to assess how best to do that. But nothing has changed as it relates to our decision-making in this area."
A media outlet that backs Ukrainian separatism quotes RIA Novosti as saying Donetsk rebel leader Aleksandr Zakharchenko suggested that the governor of the central Ukrainian Dnipropetrovsk region who's feuding with Kyiv, billionaire mogul Igor Kolomoyskiy, should simply create his own republic.
That concludes our live blogging for Tuesday, March 24. Follow our continuing coverage of events in Ukraine and throughout RFE/RL's broadcast region HERE.