Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko makes a statement with Ukrainian servicewoman Nadezhda Savchenko in Kiev, May 25, 2016.
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During her recent press conference, the Ukrainian military pilot, who was pardoned in Russia for her involvement in the murder of two Russian journalists, stated that World War III would help return Crimea to Ukraine.
“I can’t bring the dead back, but I am ready to lay my life on the battlefield again, and I will do everything to ensure that every person who is in captivity walks free”, Savchenko told reporters after her return to Kyiv’s Boryspil airport Wednesday, according to Interfax-Ukraine, a Ukrainian news agency.
Savchenko, a professional air force officer, was fighting with a Ukrainian volunteer battalion against Russia-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine when she was captured in the summer of 2014.
Over the past two years, Savchenko became both Ukraine’s national hero and Russia’s best-known prisoner.
Klikh worked as a history teacher in Ukraine before his arrest, while Karpyukh, who has a wife and a nine-year old son, was a member of the extreme Ukrainian nationalist organization Right Sector.
“Step back if you want me to say anything”.
Almost two years ago, Nadiya Savchenko was captured in combat in eastern Ukraine and forcibly taken against her will into Russian Federation.
The two states have been at odds since Ukraine’s pro-western revolution in 2014, and Moscow’s subsequent annexation of Crimea and provision of fighters and heavy weapons to separatist forces in the eastern Ukrainian Donbass region – actions for which the European Union and USA imposed economic sanctions on Russian Federation.
Nadiya Savchenko continues making loud statements upon her return to Ukraine. French President Francois Hollande called it “a significant move for the implementation of the Minsk agreements” while German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed his hope that Savchenko’s “exchange will… give a positive impulse to the Minsk process”.
The fighting in eastern Ukraine broke out in April 2014 after Ukraine’s Russia-friendly president was ousted after months of street protests and after Russian Federation annexed Crimea.
“The Ukrainian president and the Ukrainian authorities will try and resolve this through negotiations like with Savchenko”, Ilya Novikov, a lawyer for Klikh who also defended Savchenko, told International Business Times. She resurfaced in Russian custody she says she was kidnapped and spirited across the border, Russians say she came in illegally.
As was reported, Kiev and Moscow exchanged Nadezhda Savchenko and Alexander Alexandrov and Evgeny Yerofeyev.
Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko, freed by Russian Federation in a prisoner exchange on Wednesday, has been condemned by Moscow as a murderer but was rapturously received as a national hero back home. She may also be repulsed by Mr Poroshenko’s failure to deliver on the promises of the revolution she fought for, such as attacking corruption. Savchenko was sentenced to 22 years in prison by Russian Federation for the involvement in that attack.
“We are glad that Nadiya Savchenko has finally returned to Ukraine. Without the people, the politicians wouldn’t have done a thing”, she said with determination and without a hint of gratitude to the head of state.
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In the autumn after her capture, Savchenko was elected a member of the Ukrainian parliament and appointed to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. “A strong leader has come back home, that’s for sure”.
