There has been no official confirmation but sources said she was swapped for Russian prisoners Yevgeny Yerofeyev and Alexander Alexandrov held by Ukraine.
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A Ukrainian pilot convicted of murdering two Russian journalists in 2014 was released from Russian captivity on Wednesday and flown back to Ukraine.
A top European human rights official has welcomed the release of Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko by Russian Federation and said he hopes it will lead “to more good things”. Her capture and trial became a rallying point for Ukrainians at home and overseas.
Russia and Ukraine completed a high-level prisoner swap Wednesday, trading a Ukrainian helicopter pilot dubbed the country’s “Joan of Arc” for two Russian servicemen accused of being members of Russian military intelligence. “I’ll tell you that I am ready to die for this to happen, and it will happen!” she said.
Meanwhile, President Poroshenko – who awarded Savchenko a Hero of Ukraine star – said: “This is our common victory!” She graduated from a prestigious air force school in 2009, which until then had been open only to men.
Earlier this month, France and Germany held a round of talks with Kiev and Moscow as part of efforts to try to seek a lasting peace deal but no consensus was reached over elections in the separatist regions.
Savchenko, a military pilot, had volunteered to fight with a ground unit against the separatists in eastern Ukraine.
She said that she was kidnapped and spirited across the border, while Russian prosecutors said she had snuck across the border by pretending to be a refugee and was later arrested.
She was handed a 22-year jail sentence in March over the killing of two Moscow state television journalists in the conflict in east Ukraine.
Both of the Russians, Alexander Alexandrov and Yevgeny Yerofeyev, have submitted a petition for a pardon to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Alexandrov’s lawyer Valentin Rybin told the state news agency Tass.
Savchenko’s assertive demeanor and hunger strikes during her trial made her a national hero in Ukraine, where she was elected in absentia to the Rada, the lower house of parliament. Savchenko, 35, pleaded not guilty, while her lawyers said the case was fabricated by the Russian court. The period will surely see eastern Ukraine return to the worldwide spotlight, particularly in regards to whether or not the Minsk II peace process is being properly implemented.
“I am glad and feel relief that Nadezhda Savchenko has been released and may return to her family in Ukraine”, the minister said. That didn’t happen because Moscow argued that Savchenko was a risky criminal. A onetime pinup for the post-Soviet Ukrainian armed forces, Savchenko served in a contingent deployed to Iraq after the 2003 US invasion and was featured in a 2011 Ukrainian military propaganda film.
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The newspaper reported some 100 reporters had gathered at an airport terminal awaiting her arrival Wednesday afternoon. “I will try to convince her and to obtain consent”, he wrote.
