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Ukraine's acting Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya speaks to the UN General Assembly on March 27.
Ukraine's acting Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya speaks to the UN General Assembly on March 27.
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Live Blog: UN Backs Ukraine Integrity

Final Summary For March 27

-- 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 Muzychko earlier 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
12:10 22.3.2014

12:14 22.3.2014

12:14 22.3.2014

12:17 22.3.2014
More from RFE/RL's News Desk on German Foreign Minister Walter Steinmeier's visit to Kyiv:

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has denounced Russia's "attempt to splinter Europe" by backing an independence referendum in the Ukrainian southern region of Crimea earlier this month, news agencies report. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law formalizing Crimea's annexation on Friday, despite U.S. and European sanctions. Speaking in Kyiv on Saturday after meeting Ukraine's Acting President Oleksandr Turchynov, Steinmeier said he hoped the first OSCE monitors would arrive in Ukraine to support de-escalation efforts in the next couple of days. Yatseniuk called for European support, citing energy security and possible cooperation with Germany "to help with the modernization and strengthening of Ukraine's armed forces." Turchynov is also expected to hold talks with visiting Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Saturday.

12:34 22.3.2014
Russia threatening tit-for-tat on sanctions. This, via Reuters:

Russia's foreign ministry said on Saturday that Moscow has the right of a tit-for-tat response to the second wave of sanctions imposed by the European Union over Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea.

The EU imposed an new set of sanctions on Friday adding 12 Russians and Ukrainians to a list of people targeted by EU asset freezes and travel bans. There are now 33 on the list.

"It's a pity that the European Council made a decision that is divorced from reality," the ministry's spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement on the ministry's website.

"We believe it is time to return to the platform of pragmatic cooperation that reflects the interests of our countries. However, of course, the Russian side reserves itself the right to give a comparable answer to the actions taken."

12:37 22.3.2014

12:38 22.3.2014
Photo from Donetsk demonstration:

12:43 22.3.2014
BBC's MArk Lowen tweets from the Novofederoskoe military base in Crimea, where Ukrainians troops are refusing to leave one building:


12:46 22.3.2014

12:48 22.3.2014

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