Here's a Savchenko update from our news desk:
Ukrainian Pilot Pledges Full Hunger Strike As Trial In Russia Nears End
A Ukrainian pilot who has been refusing food while on trial in Russia has threatened to go on full hunger strike unless she is extradited back home after the verdict.
Nadia Savchenko’s sister (Vira Savchenko) said on March 1 that if she was not returned home within 10 days after the ruling, she would start refusing to drink.
Closing arguments in Savchenko's trial are due to begin on March 2 and a verdict is expected soon after.
She is accused of involvement in the deaths of two Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine.
Savchenko was fighting in a volunteer battalion against Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine when she was captured in June 2014.
She has accused the separatists of kidnapping her and taking her into Russia where she was jailed and charged.
Kyiv says the charges against her are trumped up and that she should be treated as a prisoner of war.
Based on reporting by AP and uatoday.tv
Here's some more details from our news desk on the new ethics code for civil servants
Ukrainian Government's New Ethics Code Bans Officials From Criticizing State Authorities
Ukraine has banned government officials from publicly criticizing the work of state institutions and their colleagues.
The rule is part of a new ethics code that civil servants must follow or face disciplinary action, according to a decree posted on the government website on March 1.
The decree says the government decided to introduce standards of ethical conduct for civil servants to "restore public faith in the work of the state bodies and officials."
The move comes after Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s government barely survived a no-confidence vote in parliament last month amid growing disenchantment among Ukrainians with the pro-Western government that took power following the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014.
The county is struggling with a deepening recession and continuing violence from Russia-backed separatists in the east.
Based on reporting by Reuters and TASS
Our news desk has some info on casualties in the east:
Ukraine Says Three Soldiers Killed, Five Wounded In East
Ukraine says three of its servicemen have been killed and five wounded in the country’s east.
A military spokesman in the eastern region of Luhansk said three soldiers were killed and two wounded when their vehicle hit a mine on the highway between the villages of Novotoshkivske and Hirne on March 1.
A military spokesman in Kyiv said another three government troops were wounded in exchanges of fire over the past 24 hours near the front line separating separatist-held parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions from the rest of Ukraine.
Two Ukrainian troops were wounded as a result of firing in the government-held towns of Krasnohorivka and Maryinka, while another soldier was injured in a booby-trap blast near the village of Kamianka.
Fighting between government forces and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 9,100 people since April 2014.
The Minsk peace agreement signed a year ago has helped reduce the violence, but skirmishes have continued.