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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
14:19 15.3.2014
This just came over the Reuters wire:

UKRAINIAN MILITARY REPELS ATTEMPT BY RUSSIAN FORCES TO ENTER REGION ADJACENT TO CRIMEA-UKRAINE'S EFENCE MINISTRY
14:22 15.3.2014
And in Kyiv, the (Fashion) show must go on. Via AFP:

The lights dim, a mournful music comes on and a stick-thin model struts assuredly down the catwalk: no, this is not New York or Milan, this is Kiev.

The threat of war in Ukraine might be on everybody's lips but walk into the Mystetskyi Arsenal art complex and you might as well be in an episode of "Sex & the City".

Pretty young things in stiletto booties, red-lipped and decked out in the latest trends, mill about exchanging gossip, a voluminous leather tote or trendy little clutch in hand.

Ukrainian Fashion Week kicked off on Friday and will showcase over 40 local designers over its six days.

But with Russian forces at the border and Crimea threatening a break-up of Ukraine, organisers and designers insist they are trying to send a message to Europe and the rest of the world, as well as to people at home.

"We thought of postponing Ukrainian Fashion Week but when the Crimea situation began we knew we had to do it now," Iryna Danylevska, co-founder and organiser of the event, told AFP.
14:24 15.3.2014
14:29 15.3.2014
Kyiv Post reports that U.S. Senators John McCain and Dick Durbin will urge President Barack Obama to sent weapons to Ukraine:

U.S. senators John McCain and Dick Durbin, two of eight American senators visiting Ukraine this weekend, say they will urge U.S. President Barack Obama to immediately send arms and other military supplies to Ukraine's government for defense against a broader invasion of the nation beyond the already Kremlin-occupied Crimean peninsula.

However, McCain and Durbin's request met with resistance from another visiting U.S. senator, Chris Murphy, who said that Obama is right to carefully consider any decision to send weapons to Ukraine.
14:32 15.3.2014
Reports surfacing that the Chaplain of Ukrainian Navy in Sevastopol has been detained by pro-Russia forces (h/t to NBC's James Novogrod)

14:33 15.3.2014
14:42 15.3.2014
14:42 15.3.2014
14:51 15.3.2014
Bold words. Would like to know who said them:

14:58 15.3.2014
Paul Waldie of "The Globe and Mail" reports on Ukraine's claims that it "repelled" attempted Russian incursion outside of Crimea.

The Ukrainian military says it has “repelled” an effort by the Russian military to land in southern Ukraine, just outside Crimea

"Units of Ukraine's armed forces today ... repelled an attempt by servicemen of the armed forces of the Russian Federation to enter the territory of Kherson region on Arbatskaya Strelka," a statement from the Defense Ministry said. "This was repelled immediately."

It said the Ukrainian military used aircraft, ground forces and its aeromobile battalion in the operation. It was unclear whether any shots were fired.

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