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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
12:52 18.3.2014
Crimea's old parliament being unceremoniously discarded to the dustbin of history.

13:03 18.3.2014
Reshat Ametov, the Crimean Tatar found dead after being abducted at a protest rally, is being buried in Simferopol.

13:15 18.3.2014
13:42 18.3.2014
It's all Europe's fault! The Russian foreign ministry has issued a statement blaming Europe for the political turmoil in Ukraine.

"It's time for the European Union to understand that the reason for the crisis in Ukraine lies not in Russia but in the actions of individual Ukrainian political forces and their foreign backers. Brussel's desire to push Ukraine ... to an artificial choice between the EU and Russia essentially provoked the deep political crisis in this country."

The foreign ministry added that Western sanctions against Russia "will not go without an adequate response."
13:45 18.3.2014
RFE/RL's newsdesk has issued this short item on Joe Biden's news conference in Warsaw:

Speaking on a visit to NATO ally Poland, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Russia's international isolation will only increase and Moscow will face additional U.S. and European Union sanctions if it continues with moves to take over Crimea.

Biden described Russia's annexation of Crimea as "almost unbelievable" and condemned it as "nothing but a land grab."

Biden said the United States remains strongly committed to the collective defense of all NATO nations and affirmed Washington's commitment to establishing a missile-defense system in Poland by 2018.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who appeared with Biden, said the international community cannot accept Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
13:46 18.3.2014
13:57 18.3.2014
Putin's Crimea speech in numbers. Four standing ovations, the longest lasting 39 seconds, and 32 rounds of applause.

14:18 18.3.2014
From agencies:

NATO member states have condemned Russia's annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea as a "land grab" in violation of international law and warned that Moscow faces the prospect of more Western sanctions.

Britain has announced the suspension of all military cooperation with Russia.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the referendum in Crimea, the declaration of independence by secessionist Crimean lawmakers, and Russia’s annexation of the territory were all against international law.

French President Francois Hollande has urged a "strong" EU response.
14:21 18.3.2014
Russia's treaty annexing Crimea says local residents will automatically become Russian citizens unless they file a request to retain their Ukrainian citizenship. They will have four weeks to do so after the treaty takes effect.
14:23 18.3.2014
U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden says in Poland: "The world has seen through Russia’s actions and has rejected the flawed logic."

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