Nadezhda Savchenko, a Ukrainian air force helicopter pilot, was captured by Moscow-backed separatist forces during fighting in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, in the summer of 2014, and ended up in a Russian jail. Savchenko was serving in Donbas as a volunteer soldier with a local volunteer infantry battalion, “Aydar,” while on leave from her unit. Savchenko was accused by Russian prosecutors of complicity in the death of two Russian journalists of the state-owned Rossiya TV channel, who were imbedded with armed separatists. The two were allegedly killed in a Ukrainian artillery barrage. Savchenko was given a jury trial, …read more
Source: The Jamestown Foundation
