WATCH: Protesters Demand Savchenko's Release
Savchenko Trial Due To Resume In Russian Court
The trial of Ukrainian military pilot Nadia Savchenko is due to resume on March 9 at a military court in Russia.
Savchenko says she was seized in eastern Ukraine in June 2014 while fighting with a volunteer battalion against Russia-backed separatists and taken to Russia illegally.
She is now on trial, accused of acting as a spotter who called in coordinates for a mortar attack that killed two Russian journalists.
"During the past 20 months, she has become a symbol of Ukrainian national pride and strength," U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said in a statement on March 8.
Biden said Savchenko has been "unjustly imprisoned" and the United States is calling on Russia "to make the right choice -- to drop all charges and release her at once."
On March 8, several hundred people marched to the Russian Embassy in Kyiv to demand Russia free Savchenko. Savchenko declared a hunger strike, refusing even liquids, on March 3 after the judge adjourned the trial for a week without allowing her to give her final statement.
Prosecutors have asked for Savchenko to be found guilty and sentenced to 23 years in prison.