Three Ukrainian soldiers were reported killed and two wounded today when their vehicle hit a mine in the former Soviet republic’s pro-Russian separatist east.
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Savchenko was fighting in a volunteer battalion against Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine when she was captured in June 2014.
The Ukrainian government has campaigned for Savchenko’s release, claiming that the charges against her were trumped up and that she should be treated as a prisoner of war.
The trial is now drawing to a close and Savchenko is expected to make her last address to the court on Thursday.
It wants her to be returned in exchange for Russians being held captive in Ukraine.
“If they wore helmets and flak jackets, they would have remained alive”, Savchenko said in remarks provided by her defense teams.
US President Barack Obama has extended sanctions imposed on Russian Federation over developments in Ukraine for one more year, the White House said on Wednesday. A “dry” hunger strike means she will also refuse water as well as food.
“During political cases in Russian courts procedural arguments never have any meaning, and nobody cares about them”, Feygin said, adding that Savchenko’s fate “depends on the political negotiations now” between Ukraine and Russia.
Kyiv accused Russian Federation of kidnapping and smuggling her across the border.
“If there is no action like extradition 10 days after the verdict, Nadiya will go on hunger strike”, Vera Savchenko told the AP.
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Ilya Novikov, also Savchenko’s lawyer, said on March 2 that Donetsk court would probably announce the verdict within two weeks – as she had demanded. You have proved that you are not able (to do anything). “You haven’t broken me, and won’t break me ever”.
