The crop-haired military helicopter pilot denies any involvement in the shelling death of two Russian state television reporters.
Advertisement
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko gestures during a news conference in Kiev, Ukraine, January 14, 2016.
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.
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”.
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&”.
The Interfax news agency, citing unidentified sources, said Poroshenko’s plane with the two Russians onboard is preparing to leave Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, on Wednesday to fly to Rostov-on-Don, the city in southern Russia near where Savchenko is being held.
He said the same procedure is underway in Russian Federation regarding Savchenko and the outcome will be clear by evening.
In parallel, the two Russians, Alexander Alexandrov and Yevgeny Yerofeyev, were in the process of being returned to Russian soil, the second source close to the swap said.
The petition for pardon was not filed personally by the soldiers, as under Ukrainian law this would constitute an admission of guilt, Alexandrov’s lawyer Valentin Rybin told the TASS agency.
Advertisement
The Minsk Protocol, signed in September of 2014, established a cease-fire and a buffer zone in eastern Ukraine between government troops and Russian rebels. Her capture and trial became a rallying point for Ukrainians at home and overseas. They acknowledged being Russian officers, but the Russian Defense Ministry claimed they had resigned from active duty.
