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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
15:59 19.3.2014
15:43 19.3.2014
Crimean refugees are calling on Kyiv to evacuate residents facing repression from pro-Russian forces ruling the peninsula. There are reports of Ukrainian military personnel being evicted from their homes. A black list of local Ukrainian troops and anti-annexation activists is reportedly being drafted in Crimea.

15:20 19.3.2014
Yulia Tymosheko signed out of Berlin hospital, on her way to Kyiv

15:11 19.3.2014
It seems sport is another area that is feeling the effects of the Ukraine crisis:

Ukraine has announced it is withdrawing as host of the Eurobasket 2015 basketball tournament, citing the turmoil that has recently convulsed the country.

The chief of Ukraine's organizing committee, Markian Lubkivsky, said it would be impossible for Ukraine to prepare to host the championship during what he described as the "current severe economic and political conditions."

Lubkivsky said hosting the European basketball championship requires planning and the efforts of thousands of people.

Lubkivsky added that the "complicated financial situation" in Ukraine made hosting such an event impossible at this time, since there are currently higher priorities.

He said he hoped Ukraine would be in a position to host the event in 2017. (Reuters, AFP)
15:06 19.3.2014
Ukraine's nationalist Svoboda party is under fire for assaulting and briefly abducting the head of the First National TV Channel.

Oleksandr Panteleymonov was visited in his offices by Svoboda lawmaker Igor Miroshnichenko and at least five thugs who beat him and forced him to write a resignation letter.

Amesty International urges Ukrainian authorities to immediately investigate what it calls a "brutal attack."

Here's a video of the attack -- it begins at 4'40.
14:52 19.3.2014
It looks like Kyiv is now reconsidering its membership of the CIS:

Ukraine's new authorities have resigned from holding the one-year rotating chairmanship of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

A spokesman with the Foreign Ministry, Evhen Perebyinis, said Ukraine is also considering quitting its membership in the grouping of former Soviet republics.

He said that, instead of fulfilling its main tasks, the CIS has become "an instrument of implementing the interests of certain members of the Commonwealth, in particular Russia."

Perebyinis said the CIS-endorsed principles of respect for national sovereignty and territorial integrity have been thrown into doubt by this week's annexation by Russia of Ukraine's Crimea.

Ukraine, along with Russia and Belarus, was among the founders of the CIS after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

However, Ukraine never ratified the CIS Charter. (Interfax, UNIAN)
14:35 19.3.2014
Here's the UN statement on Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's trip to Russia and Ukraine. The March 20-21 visit is "part of his diplomatic efforts to encourage all parties to resolve the crisis peacefully."
14:34 19.3.2014
Here's a new update from RFE/RL's newsdesk:

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is heading to Russia and Ukraine amid the escalating crisis over Crimea.

Ban's office said the secretary-general will meet tomorrow with Russian President Vladimir Putin, before traveling to Kyiv the following day for talks with top Ukrainian officials to push for a peaceful resolution.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister David Cameron said today that Russia could face permanent expulsion from the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations if it took further action against Ukraine after annexing Crimea. (AFP, Reuters)
14:31 19.3.2014
Ukraine is working on ways to evacuate its citizens from Crimea. First Deputy Defense Minister Leonid Polyakov says troops will remain.

14:08 19.3.2014
Ukraine is working on ways to evacuate its citizens from Crimea. First Deputy Defense Minister Leonid Polyakov says troops will remain.

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