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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
12:38 22.3.2014
Photo from Donetsk demonstration:

12:43 22.3.2014
BBC's MArk Lowen tweets from the Novofederoskoe military base in Crimea, where Ukrainians troops are refusing to leave one building:


12:46 22.3.2014
12:48 22.3.2014
12:53 22.3.2014
13:05 22.3.2014
A graphic in "The Washington Post" shows specific things Ukraine loses by losing Crimea.

* MIlitary asets "including dozens of fighter aircraft, a brigade of marines, and a large portion of its navy";

* Tourism, 69 percent of which came from Ukraine and 25 percent from Russia in 2012;

* Deep sea natural gas reserves in the Black Sea waters surrounding the peninsula.

Meanwhile, Crimea gets more than 80 percent of is electricity, "most of its food supply" and "almost all of its fresh water" from mainland Ukraine.
13:06 22.3.2014
13:18 22.3.2014
From the wires, via our news desk:

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has ordered the Black Sea Fleet's command to let Ukrainian armed forces servicemen wishing to leave Crimea proceed to Ukrainian territory in an organized manner. The Defense Ministry spokesperson said Saturday that the Ukrainian soldiers could drive away in their own vehicles, escorted to the border by Russian military police. It said that as of March 21, less than 2,000 Ukrainian troops had expressed the wish to leave for Ukraine -- out of more than 18,000 Ukrainian troops stationed in Crimea. The ministry said Russian state flags had been raised at 147 Ukrainian armed forces' bases and units in Crimea. Russian Navy flags have been raised on 54 Ukrainian naval ships.
13:25 22.3.2014
Polish Defense Minister calls on United States to increase its military presence in Europe.

Via Reuters:

WARSAW, March 22 (Reuters) - The U.S. should increase its military presence in Poland and in other NATO members in central and eastern Europe in light of the Ukraine crisis, Polish Defence Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said on Saturday.
Siemoniak said Washington was open towards the idea but detailed talks were yet to begin.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden visited Poland last Tuesday and confirmed plans to deploy elements of a U.S. missile shield in Poland by 2018 and met with the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Bronislaw Komorowski.
"The U.S. must increase its presence in (central and eastern) Europe, also in Poland," he said RMF FM radio.
"We will be talking about the details and I am happy that representatives of the U.S., the U.S. vice president are open towards these talks," he said.
During Biden's visit, Siemoniak said, "there was a clear expectation from our side, and also from all NATO allies (in) eastern Europe, that we expect a larger military presence of the U.S. and that this eastern flank of NATO must be strengthened."
13:27 22.3.2014
More from AFP on the situation at the Ukrainian air force base in Novofedorivka:

About 200 pro-Russian protesters on Saturday stormed a Ukrainian air force base in western Crimea, AFP correspondents saw.
The unarmed crowd broke through to the base in the town of Novofedorivka and started smashing windows as Ukrainian servicemen barricaded themselves inside buildings and threw smoke bombs at the intruders from the roof.

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