An update on the Savchenko trial from our News Desk:
Savchenko Trial Ends, Verdict To Be Announced March 21
The trial of Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko has ended in a 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 was accused of acting as a spotter who called in coordinates for a mortar attack that killed two Russian journalists.
The judge at the court in the small Russian city of Donetsk said on the closing day of the trial on March 9 that the verdict would be announced on March 21 and 22.
She faces up to 23 years in prison if convicted in a trial that has been roundly criticized in the West.
"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 that 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.
Based on reporting by AP and AFP
Savchenko made an insulting gesture during her court appearance today:
Live feed from today's Savchenko court session: