KIEV, March 27 - Ukraine won a $27 billion international financial lifeline on Thursday, rushed through in the wake of Russia's annexation of Crimea, Reuters reported.

The International Monetary Fund announced a $14-18 billion standby credit for Kiev in return for tough economic reforms that will unlock further aid from the European Union, the United States and other lenders over two years, effectively pulling Kiev closer to Europe.

The IMF deal was a boost for the pro-Western government that replaced the Russian-backed Yanukovych last month, prompting Moscow to seize Crimea.

"The financial support from the broader international community that the program will unlock amounts to $27 billion over the next two years," an IMF statement said.

The IMF said it did not see a need to restructure Ukraine's debts for now.

The Ukrainian parliament later backed a law accepting the austerity measures demanded by the IMF, after initially voting against it.

"The decision we have to take is extremely unpopular," far-right nationalist leader Oleh Tiahnybok told parliament. "But if this decision is not taken then (President Vladimir) Putin in Moscow will applaud that the coalition has been split."

President Barack Obama said the IMF agreement was a major step forward that would help stabilize Ukraine's economy.

China, which failed to back its ally Russia in a vote on Crimea at the United Nations this month, said it would play a "constructive role" on aid for Ukraine, but stopped short of saying whether it would participate directly.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development could direct up to a billion euros a year into Ukraine over the next few years, while the EU could provide 850 million euros within three months.

The Ukraine crisis has triggered the most serious East-West confrontation since the end of the Cold War a quarter of a century ago, deepening the slump in Ukraine's economy, centered on coal and steel production, gas transit and grain exports.

Without IMF-mandated austerity measures, the economy could contract by up to 10 percent this year, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk told parliament, explaining why his government had bowed to the Fund's conditions.

"Ukraine is on the edge of economic and financial bankruptcy," he said.

Kiev opened the way for the IMF deal by announcing on Wednesday a radical 50-percent hike in the price of domestic gas from May 1 and promising to phase out remaining energy subsidies by 2016, an unpopular step Yanukovych had refused to take.

The IMF also wants the national currency, the hryvnia, to float more freely against the dollar, and a more stringent fiscal policy.

The international rescue for Ukraine was in sharp contrast to Western measures to isolate Russia diplomatically and charge it an economic price for the annexation of Crimea, home to Moscow's Black Sea fleet and an ethnic Russian majority.

Further isolating Moscow in the eyes of the West, the United Nations General Assembly passed a non-binding resolution declaring invalid Crimea's Moscow-backed referendum earlier this month on seceding from Ukraine.

In Washington, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives easily passed bills to provide aid to Ukraine, back a $1 billion loan guarantee for the Kiev government and impose sanctions on Russians and Ukrainians over Russia's annexation of Crimea.

The United States also announced a ban on licenses for the export of defense items and services to Russia. (rt/ez)