“I want to thank you for your position and express hope that such a decision, motivated by humanitarian considerations in the first place, will lead to a de-escalation of the confrontation in a certain conflict zone and will help to avoid similar awful and needless losses”.
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Savchenko, who is a professional pilot, enlisted in a volunteer Ukrainian battalion in the summer of 2014 to fight the separatist rebels in the Luhansk region.
Savchenko was sentenced to 22 years in jail for killing two journalists in eastern Ukraine – charges she strenuously denied.
Ukraine said on Tuesday seven of its servicemen had been killed in the past 24 hours as a result of increased attacks by pro-Russian rebels, the highest reported daily casualty figure since August.
Diplomats, politicians, human rights activists, journalists and celebrities all over the world voiced support for Savchenko and demanded that Russian Federation release her. Her case became a cause célèbre in Kiev, where she was awarded the title Hero of Ukraine and elected as a member of parliament despite being in Russian custody.
At her trial in southern Russia, Savchenko was accused of acting as an artillery spotter, calling down the fire that killed the journalists.
Both the European Union and the United States back Savchenko’s assertion that she was abducted by pro-Moscow eastern Ukrainian separatists, smuggled to Russian Federation and then slapped with false charges. She had been held in captivity in Russian Federation since June 2014.
Kiev has always been pushing for a prisoner swap to free Savchenko, and Poroshenko said in late April that he hoped she would return home “in a few weeks”.
Savchenko gave a short speech outside the airport, Ukrainian broadcasting station Ukrinform reported.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Greece on Friday and Saturday this week, meeting Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos to discuss energy and transport projects “of mutual interest”, a Kremlin announcement said on Monday.
Ukrainian leader Petro Porochenko and German Chancellor Angela Merkel along with France’s Hollande and Russia’s Putin also called for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
Savchenko’s sister, Vira Savchenko, posted a photo to Facebook Wednesday morning of the two of them together after Nadiya was flown to Kiev’s Borispol airport.
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Savchenko has already been delivered to Kiev on a Ukrainian plane. She said she would not appeal the ruling.
