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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
14:36 22.3.2014
14:50 22.3.2014
From the wires, via our news desk:

Crimea held a joint funeral on Saturday for a Ukrainian soldier and a pro-Moscow militiaman killed this week -- the only casualties since Russian forces took over the region. Sergei Aksyonov, the region's prime minister, said at the funeral in the Crimean capital of Simferopol that the two were "Crimean heroes." Mikhail Sheremet, the leader of the pro-Moscow militia in Crimea, said the two men were victims of "a provocation" during a gunbattle in Simferopol on Tuesday. Sheremet said the deaths were still being investigated by local authorities.
14:57 22.3.2014
14:58 22.3.2014
15:15 22.3.2014
Here is livestream video of the standoff between Russian troops and Ukrainian forces at the Ukrainian air base in Belbek, near Sevastopol.
15:22 22.3.2014
In a post on Facebook, Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov says police searching the "residences" of former Ukrainian Energy Minister Eduard Stavytskyy have found 42 kilograms of gold, $4.8 million in cash, and bags stuffed with what appear to be diamonds. They also purportedly found registration documents for several offshore companies, numerous bank cards and statements from many bank accounts, real-estate deeds, and a large collection of jewelry and expensive watches.

15:39 22.3.2014
Here are some recent background pieces on the Russia-Ukraine crisis by RFE/RL's staff that you might have missed:

U.S. Businesses Fear Russian Sanctions May Hurt Bottom Line

Explainer: How The International Sanctions Game Is Played

Infographic: Neighbors' Minority Ties To Russia

Power Vertical Blog Post: The Pros And Cons Of Propaganda
15:40 22.3.2014
15:40 22.3.2014
15:44 22.3.2014
The Telegraph cites an unidentified official in Brussels as saying the South Stream pipeline is "dead." If true, that's a pretty big deal.

From the report:

The South Stream pipeline intended to link the EU to Russia through the Black Sea by 2018 is now “dead”, according to sources in Brussels, hitting contractors close to Mr Putin. EU staff are to come up with plans to shield Europe from energy blackmail by Russia within 90 days, finding ways to prevent frontline states being picked off one by one. Ukraine’s premier, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, said in Brussels that the West must stop Russia deploying energy as a “new nuclear weapon".

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