-- The UN General Assembly has passed a resolution that affirms Ukraine's territorial integrity.
-- The IMF has announced "a staff-level agreement" with Kyiv on assistance of $14 billion-$18 billion in conjunction with a reform program that will "unlock" up to $27 billion over the next two years, pending final approval next month. Tthe U.S. Congress has also passed an aid bill for Ukraine.
-- Ex-PM Yulia Tymoshenko has announced plans to run for president.
-- Members of the Right Sector have been holding a demonstration outside the Ukrainian parliament building to vent their anger at the killing of prominent member Oleksander Muzychkoearlier in the week.
-- Six Ukrainian military officers detained by pro-Russian troops in Crimea have been released, including Colonel Yuliy Mamchur, but five others are still being held captive.
-- Anonymous sources quoted by CNN say U.S. intelligence "concludes it is more likely than previously thought that Russian forces will enter eastern Ukraine."
-- U.S. President Barack Obama, in the keynote speech of his visit to Europe, chided Russia for its use of "brute force" in Ukraine and vowed that a determined alliance of the United States and Europe will prevail over time.
*NOTE: Times are stated according to local time in Kyiv
"In the midst of the Cold War, leading universities had whole departments dedicated to understanding the Soviet Union. The top national security question of the day drew the top minds, many of whom became fluent in Russian language and culture and graduated into the government or the spy agencies. But the breakup of the Soviet Union broke up those departments, and the national security enthusiasts melted away with the thawing of relations. Professors found themselves out of funding and eventually jobs."
13:167.3.2014
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) hasposted photographs of its observer mission -- 47 people from 25 OSCE countries -- sent to Crimea at the request of the government in Kyiv trying to negotiate their way into the region at the Armyansk crossing point on March 6.
12:547.3.2014
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reports that UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic arrived in Ukraine last night for a eight-day visit. He will meet with officials in Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, and Simferopol and coordinate with international organizations including the OSCE and the Council of Europe.
He will address the media on March 14.
12:517.3.2014
RFE/RL's Russian Service is also liveblogging the Ukraine situation in Russian.
12:507.3.2014
Leading Ukrainian artists and cultural figures have made a direct video appeal to the Russian people to oppose the Russian government's incursion into Ukraine. "We are one family." "Fighting with Russia is just insane and incomprehensible." "If politicians can't agree on peace, then we will speak. We are against war." "The Russian and Ukrainian people are brothers."
12:447.3.2014
China does seem to be changing its tone on the situation in Ukraine. At first, Beijing seemed to stick to its traditional position of opposing any infringement on national sovereignty. Today, however, a Foreign Ministry spokesman focused on criticizing "the easy use of sanctions in international relations" and called for "dialogue and negotiations" to resolve the crisis.
China's official Xinua news agency posted a commentary criticizing "the West's strategy for installing so-called democratic and pro-Western Ukrainian government" for creating "a mess they do not have the capacity or wisdom to clean."
In their response, "Russian leaders once again proved their credibility and shrewdness in planning and executing effective counter moves."
12:377.3.2014
Activists in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa are organizing a pro-Russia rally for March 10:
12:357.3.2014
Polish political analyst Marek Menkiszak has published a piece looking at "Russia's strategy in the Ukrainian crisis."
"Russia’s maximum plan is apparently to bring about a reconstruction of the Ukrainian government that would involve including pro-Russian politicians, and a change of the country’s system of government, with the eastern and southern regions gaining broad political and economic autonomy," Menkiszak writes. "f those plans fail, Russia will probably seek to partially neutralise its defeat by backing the independence of Crimea or even its incorporation into the Russian Federation in the longer term, without giving up further attempts at destabilising Ukraine."
12:307.3.2014
RFE/RL's Balkans Service has a feature today (in Serbian), including video, on Serbian volunteers who have gone to Crimea to support the pro-Russian side there. The commander of the volunteer force, Milutin Malisic is quoted as saying "Know, brother Russians, that we are one people and the same Slavic blood runs through our veins."
Serbian analyst Izabela Kisic is quoted as saying "these are people who go from war zone to war zone and who are getting louder today, not only in Serbia but throughout Europe."
"Are certain political movement or political parties behind them?" she asks. "Such people, and we have numerous documents in domestic war crimes courts and in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, are the ones who committed the worst crimes."
