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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
10:09 21.3.2014
Agency reports via our news desk:

Russian President Vladimir Putin says Moscow will refrain from imposing further retaliatory sanctions against Washington, one day after the United States introduced visa bans and asset freezes against Russians. The Russian Foreign Ministry released its own list on Thursday of nine Americans banned from entering Russia, including Senator John McCain, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and House speaker John Boehner. Putin also said Friday in a meeting of his Security Council that Moscow will not introduce a visa regime for Ukrainians wanting to enter Russia. He said imposing visa regulations against Ukrainians would cause "millions of innocent Ukrainians" to suffer.
10:01 21.3.2014
09:46 21.3.2014
Visa and MasterCard have blocked transactions handled by sanction-hit Russian banks.

09:38 21.3.2014
09:36 21.3.2014
Here's the text of Van Rompuy's statement:

"Today we are signing the Agreement's political provisions. It shows our steadfast support for the course the people of Ukraine have courageously pursued. Today is but the opening act: we expect to soon sign the Agreement's remaining parts, not east the economic provisions -- together with the political ones they form a single instrument."

09:31 21.3.2014
Reuters also has RIA-Novosti quoting Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev saying Kyiv should be made to repay $11 billion on a gas deal that should be scrapped.
09:29 21.3.2014
Via Reuters:

Interfax has quoted Foreign Minister Lavrov as saying Russia has "practically agreed" a deal to allow OSCE monitors into Ukraine.
09:21 21.3.2014
09:10 21.3.2014
Russia's Federation Council, the upper house of parliament, has ratified a treaty to annex Ukraine's Crimea. The lower house, the State Duma, overwhelmingly approved the agreement on March 20.
09:05 21.3.2014
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has signed the political chapters of an Association Agreement with the European Union in Brussels, a highly symbolic move amid international tensions over Russia's annexation of Crimea.

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