-- 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 Muzychkoearlier 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
Forget Crimea, forget Donetsk. A new battle is under way -- for Viktor Yanukovych's cars.
Levko Stek of RFE/RL's Ukraine Service reports that after the ousted leader fled Ukraine on February 22, protesters took possession of his lavish Mezhyhirya estate as well as numerous holdings -- including a $2-million fleet of more than a dozen vehicles believed to belong to the president's son, Viktor Yanukovych, Jr.
The cars quickly vanished, fueling suspicions that rival militia groups have sought to appropriate some of the vehicles -- including an S-Class Mercedes-Benz and an armored Chevrolet Explorer, which were discovered abandoned, with broken windows, several days later outside Kyiv. (Protesters who discovered the cars called the police but were met instead by armed men firing a range of rubber and metal bullets. Stek speaks to one of the eyewitnesses.)
Others, including a Bentley and a Range Rover, are being held by a private company that goes by the misleading name of "Anti-Corruption Committee" (no relation to the government's National Anti-Corruption Committee) that has refused to hand over the cars to protesters guarding Mezhyhirya. Only seven cars -- including two expensive armored models -- have been returned to the former president's guarded estate.
More concerning news from our Ukrainian Service about the fate of several Ukrainian activists and journalists who are reported missing in Crimea.
The whereabouts of the head of Crimea's Ukrainian Council, Andriy Shchekun, and the director of the board of trustees of the Ukrainian School in Simferopol, Anatolyy Kovalskiy, are unknown.
Kovalskiy's son, Serhiy, says his father and Shchekun were beaten and abducted by unknown men at Simferopol’s railway station Sunday after participating in a protest against the Russian occupation.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian journalist Oleksiy Byk said Monday that two colleagues -- Kateryna Butko, press secretary of the Automaidan activist group, and independent blogger Oleksanda Ryazantseva -- were detained Sunday as they tried to enter Crimea by self-described "self-defense" troops and other unidentified men in military uniforms.
Their whereabouts are unknown. Several other Ukrainian journalists, including Olena Maksymenko of "Ukrainian Week," were also reportedly detained in Crimea Sunday.
"Hi, America" -- a personalized gas tank at a pro-Russian rally in Dnipropetrovsk.
12:0510.3.2014
Ukrainian news sites like LB.ua now promoting this graphic. Q: Why has the speaker of the Crimean Parliament Vladimir Konstantinov become such a zealous separatist? A: He owes more than $130 million to Ukrainian banks.
Deutsche Welle, citing a statement by the Polish Defense Ministry, reports that the United States is moving 12 F-16 fighters and 300 military personnel to Poland. The deployment is ahead of scheduled U.S.-Polish maneuvers starting March 13. Polish officials, however, say plans have been expanded and sped up "due to the tense political situation." The U.S. moved six F-15 fighters to Lithuania last week, where officials said the move was due to "Russian aggression in Ukraine and increased military activity in Kaliningrad."
12:2410.3.2014
Russia's Foreign Ministry has weighed in again and expressed concern at what it terms the "lawlessness" affecting Russians and Russian-speakers in eastern Ukraine.
The ministry's statement Monday cited an incident in Kharkiv on Saturday, during which it says masked men linked to the ultranationalist Right Sector group -- in "connivance" with the new government in Kyiv -- opened fire on peaceful protesters.
Kharkiv police acknowledged a minor incident but said the only link to Right Sector came from an anonymous phone call.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also complained that police in Dnepropetrovsk had detained seven Russian journalists.
The ministry's statement expressed "surprise at the shameful silence of our Western partners, rights organizations, and foreign media" over the incidents.
Ukraine's government and Western leaders accuse Moscow of distorting the facts to portray protesters who toppled President Viktor Yanukovich as violent extremists.
