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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
16:08 25.3.2014
RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reports that Right Sector is calling for the immediate resignation of Interior Minister Arsen Avakov following the shooting death of one its leading members, Oleksandr Muzychka (Sashko Biliy).

Right Sector head Dmytro Yarosh: "We cannot watch silently the actively counterrevolutionary activities of Ukraine's Interior Ministry. We demand the immediate resignation of Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, and are demanding the arrest of the commander of the Falcon organized-crime unit and, accordingly, those guilty of murder."

Interior Ministry officials say Muzychko was mortally wounded after he opened fire on police.
16:24 25.3.2014
Current list of candidates for Ukraine's May 25 presidential elections growing and growing:

-- Ex-PM Yulia Tymoshenko
-- UDAR head Vitali Klitschko
-- Right Sector's Dmytro Yarosh
-- former Kharkiv governor Mykhaylo Dobkin
-- billionaire Serhiy Tihipko
-- Radical Party head Oleh Lyashko
-- "Chocolate King" Petro Poroshenko
-- Communist Party leader Petro Simonenko
-- Vadym Rabynovych, president of All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress

It may be, however, that Tihipko may be the only candidate who's had his own cover on Men's Health.
16:32 25.3.2014
16:39 25.3.2014
16:45 25.3.2014
Obama speaking in The Hague:
16:49 25.3.2014
16:50 25.3.2014
From our news desk on Obama's speech in The Hague.
U.S. President Barack Obama has indicated that the United States and its allies will not back down in pressuring Russia over the annexation of Crimea.

Obama said the United States is concerned about the massing of Russian troops along Ukraine's border but he added Russia seems to be "making a series of calculations" as the Kremlin takes note of international opposition to Russian moves in Crimea.

Obama called Russia a "regional power" that is threatening a neighbor out of weakness not strength, noting if Russia had substantial influence in Ukraine it would not have needed to send troops there to enforce its policies.

Obama conceded however that Russia has military control over Crimea but reiterated the U.S. and its allies are "not recognizing what is happening in Crimea."
16:51 25.3.2014
17:18 25.3.2014
A longer wrap from our news desk on Obama's speech in The Hague.

Key points:

-- Allies won't back down
-- Concern at massing of Russian troops along Ukraine's borders
-- Obama conceded Russia has military control of Crimea
17:24 25.3.2014
And here is video from Reuters of Obama speaking in The Hague.
Obama Criticizes Russian Justifications Regarding Ukraine
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