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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.

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
12:34 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
12:53 22.3.2014
13:05 22.3.2014
A graphic in "The Washington Post" shows specific things Ukraine loses by losing Crimea.

* MIlitary asets "including dozens of fighter aircraft, a brigade of marines, and a large portion of its navy";

* Tourism, 69 percent of which came from Ukraine and 25 percent from Russia in 2012;

* Deep sea natural gas reserves in the Black Sea waters surrounding the peninsula.

Meanwhile, Crimea gets more than 80 percent of is electricity, "most of its food supply" and "almost all of its fresh water" from mainland Ukraine.
13:06 22.3.2014
13:18 22.3.2014
From the wires, via our news desk:

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has ordered the Black Sea Fleet's command to let Ukrainian armed forces servicemen wishing to leave Crimea proceed to Ukrainian territory in an organized manner. The Defense Ministry spokesperson said Saturday that the Ukrainian soldiers could drive away in their own vehicles, escorted to the border by Russian military police. It said that as of March 21, less than 2,000 Ukrainian troops had expressed the wish to leave for Ukraine -- out of more than 18,000 Ukrainian troops stationed in Crimea. The ministry said Russian state flags had been raised at 147 Ukrainian armed forces' bases and units in Crimea. Russian Navy flags have been raised on 54 Ukrainian naval ships.

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