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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
10:43 20.3.2014
Here's a video of U.S. President Barack Obama ruling out a military intervention in Ukraine:
Obama Rules Out U.S. Military Action in Ukraine
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0:00 0:01:06 0:00
10:39 20.3.2014
According to RFE/RL's newsdesk, reports from Crimea say that Ukraine's navy chief Admiral Serhiy Haiduk who was arrested yesterday, has been released along with seven other detainees.
10:36 20.3.2014
RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reports that the US National Geographic Society will now shade Crimea in grey on its maps to indicate an "area of special status."

This contradicts previous reports that it would alter its maps to include Crimea in the Russian Federation.

10:24 20.3.2014
Crimea-themed matryoshka dolls!


10:19 20.3.2014
Patriarch Filaret, the leader of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church's Kyivan Patriarchate, says Putin has used "the methods of the devil" and violated three Commandments.
10:06 20.3.2014
Ukrainians overwhelmingly back introduction of visa regime with Russia in "Ukraiynska Pravda" poll.
09:59 20.3.2014
With Russia's annexation of Crimea, many eyes are now on Transdniester:

The Russian government is expected to discuss the situation in Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniester today.

Transdniester's leader, Yevgeny Shevchuk, meanwhile, has arrived in Moscow for consultations.
Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Rogozin said two days ago that ministers will discuss Transdniester's "economic isolation," which he said would deepen if Moldova signs an association and free-trade deal with the EU as expected in September.

Rogozin complained that Ukraine was blocking supplies from reaching Russian troops in Transdniester.

The mainly Russian-speaking Transdniester broke away in 1990 over fears Moldova would reunite with neighboring Romania.

Some 1,400 Russian troops are stationed in the region.

Moldova's President Nicolae Timofti has warned Russia against any move to annex Transdniester in the same way it took control of Ukraine's Crimea. (Interfax, RIA Novosti)
09:58 20.3.2014
09:49 20.3.2014
Crimea has cancelled its spring military conscription into the Russian army. Crimea's acting military commissioner made the announcement today, one day after Crimean leader Sergei Aksyonov said local conscripts would start serving in the Russian army this spring, including in Chechnya and Dagestan.
09:47 20.3.2014
Here's another update from our newsdesk:

Russia's State Duma is holding a special session to ratify the agreement that makes Crimea a part of the Russian Federation.

Elsewhere, in a speech to parliament, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said EU leaders would signal their readiness to ramp up punitive measures against Russia, including economic sanctions today's summit.

She said the EU could introduce what she called "Phase-3 measures" if there is a "worsening" of the situation in Ukraine.

She added that current tensions with Moscow mean the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations does not effectively exist at present.

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