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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
12:21 14.3.2014
WATCH: RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service live-streaming from pro-Ukrainian rally in Crimean capital Simferopol:
12:37 14.3.2014

Crimean Tatar figurehead Mustafa Jemilev says NATO should intervene in Crimea, as it did in Kosovo.

He added: NATO intervention "usually only happens when there is a massacre; we want it to happen before there is a massacre."

Jemilev was speaking from Brussels, where he is due to meet with NATO Deputy Secretary-General Alexander Verbow later today.

Read more (in Ukrainian) here:
12:53 14.3.2014

Fascinating BuzzFeed article on the inner workings of RT based on interviews with former reporters:

"The job quickly began to seem strange. The editing process was multilayered: 'First you have somebody who’s a native English speaker, usually British,' Bivens said. This person edits the script for clarity and tightness. 'Then you have a Russian and they make sure that it fits whatever narrative they want it to fit.'"
12:55 14.3.2014
12:55 14.3.2014
According to Reuters and AFP, Russia has called on the 57-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to send observers to monitor Sunday's controversial referendum in Crimea, which is occupied by Russian forces.

The vote could see the region become part of Russia. The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the leadership of the OSCE, its member states, and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights should renounce what it called the practice of "double standards" and monitor the vote.

The statement said the monitors would "facilitate the deescalation of the situation."

OSCE Chairman Didier Burkhalter said earlier this week that the referendum in Crimea "must be considered illegal" in its current form.

OSCE observers have had great difficulty in entering Crimea over the past week.

Last Saturday, warning shots were fired after OSCE monitors approached a checkpoint.
12:56 14.3.2014
Meanwhile, the United Nations is deploying human rights monitors throughout Ukraine, including in Crimea, to establish the facts surrounding claims of rights abuses.

In a statement Friday, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic said placing monitors in Ukraine is necessary to clear up the "preponderance of competing narratives about what exactly has transpired in the country since November."

Simonovic said warning signs about violations have been neglected for years and now "there are serious concerns about the weakness of rule of law institutions, lack of accountability, and ensuing impunity for human rights violations."

Simonovic expressed concern about allegations of excessive use of force and extrajudicial killings, including by snipers, torture, disappearances, and arbitrary detentions.

Russia used allegations of violations of the rights of Russians or Russian-speakers in Crimea to justify its military intervention.
12:58 14.3.2014
13:06 14.3.2014
13:08 14.3.2014
Russian MFA shows its funny side:
13:17 14.3.2014
Leonid Kravchuk, Ukraine's first president, says country needs to urgently join NATO:

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