Hundreds March In Kyiv Demanding Savchenko's Release
KYIV -- Hundreds of demonstrators, including Ukrainian lawmakers, are marching in Kyiv, demanding that Russia release Ukrainian military pilot Nadia Savchenko.
Some 500 demonstrators holding placards saying "#Free Savchenko" started the march on March 8 in the Ukrainian capital from Ukraine’s Defense Ministry toward the Russian Embassy, where they plan to hand over a petition addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin urging him to free the female pilot.
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.
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.
A verdict is expected later this week.
More on imprisoned Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko from our News Desk:
A Ukrainian lawmaker from President Petro Poroshenko's party said a team of doctors would leave on March 8 for the southern Russian detention center where Savchenko is being held.
"Ukrainian diplomats have been able to wrest an agreement from the Russian authorities to allow our doctors to see (Savchenko) on March 9," Iryna Herashchenko wrote on Facebook.