KUALA LUMPUR, March 15 – Kuala Lumpur thinks it is necessary to set up an international expert team to look into causes of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 crash in Ukraine, Malaysian Senate President Abu Zahar Ujang said.

WASHINGTON, March 16 – U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby says that sanctions related to Crimea will remain in place.

KIEV, March 16 - Ukraine's top state prosecutor resumed his duties on Wednesday despite having formally resigned a month ago, prolonging the tenure of an official seen by the United States as an obstacle to tackling corruption.

KIEV, March 16 – Domestic producers are currently the main suppliers of weapons and military equipment to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but there's competition in the armored vehicle supplies sector.

KIEV, March 16 – Individuals' deposits pegged to the hryvnia fell by 3.8% or UAH 7.24 billion in February, to UAH 184.2 billion, and those pegged to foreign currency fell by 5.1% or $670 million, to $12.53 billion, the National Bank of Ukraine reported.

KIEV, March 16 – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the European Union is ready to step up sanctions against Russia if pro-Russian militants violate the truce in eastern Ukraine.

WASHINGTON, March 17 – Washington doesn't recognize Crimea as a part of the Russian Federation, reads a statement of the U.S. Department of State posted on Monday in regard to the anniversary of referendum in Crimea.

WASHINGTON, March 17 – Russia has not only acknowledged to the world that Russian forces really intervened in Crimea, but that they were prepared to take even more aggressive action, U.S. Department of State Spokesperson Jen Psaki said.

KIEV, March 17 – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is alarmed at the reduction of the feed-in electricity tariffs by 50-55% effective this month, Serhiy Maslichenko, a senior manager of the energy efficiency department at the EBRD representative office in Ukraine, told Interfax-Ukraine.

WASHINGTON, March 17 - Ukraine's finance minister on Tuesday said the country wants to be "flexible" in its discussions with sovereign bondholders over renegotiating its debt, and is not ruling out any form of agreement, including maturity extension, Reuters reported.