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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
09:00 21.3.2014
08:55 21.3.2014
08:53 21.3.2014
08:45 21.3.2014
Reuters reports that shares in Novatek, Russia's largest private gas producer, have fallen 12 percent in trading after the announcement of sanctions against co-owner and reputed Putin associate Gennady Timchenko.
08:41 21.3.2014
Russia's upper house, the Federation Council, is poised to ratify the annexation of Crimea any time now.

Speaking to the Federation Council this morning before the vote, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Western sanctions against Russian officials are irrational and will create unnecessary barriers.
08:39 21.3.2014
08:30 21.3.2014
Ukrainian and EU officials are about to kick off the signing ceremony for the political portion of an EU Association Agreement.

"We are already going to sign with the Prime Minister of Ukraine the political provision of the association agreement and seal the strong political partnership that brings Ukraine and the European Union closer together," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said after the EU summit dragged into the early morning hours today. "This is the democratic choice that Ukraine has made. It is our firm intention to sign the remaining parts of the agreement in due course. Europe is committed to Ukraine for the long term."

The fast-tracking of the signature ceremonies, which previously had been planned to take place by the end of the year, is intended to send a message to Moscow that Brussels remains committed to bringing former Soviet states into its orbit despite Russia's influence.
08:26 21.3.2014
The EU is expected to announce later today the names of the 12 additional Russians and pro-Moscow Ukrainians it target with asset freezes and travel bans over the Crimean annexation.

RFE/RL's correspondent in Brussels says they are due to be published in the EU's official journal around 1 p.m. local time.
08:23 21.3.2014
Gunvor, the oil-trading company targeted by U.S. sanctions in part over ties to co-owner Gennady Timchenko, said that Russian billionaire sold his shares one day before the sanctions were announced on March 20. The company, which is registered in Cyprus, said Timchenko transferred his stake to Swedish partner Torbjorn Tornqvist in anticipation of "potential economic sanctions."
21:58 20.3.2014
Barring major developments, that concludes our live blogging for March 20.

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