UPDATE (8 a.m. ET): According to a tweet from Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, the plane carrying Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko has landed.
http://twitter.com/poroshenko/status/735438809022771200/
——
KIEV, Ukraine – An official in the Ukrainian presidential administration says Russia has released jailed pilot Nadezhda Savchenko and she is being flown to Ukraine, as part of a swap for two Russian servicemen imprisoned in Ukraine.
The official spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
READ MORE: Ukrainians rally to demand Russia release Savchenko, attack embassy
Kremlin-funded television station RT, citing unidentified sources, reported that two Russians also were released and are being flown to Moscow.
According to the official Twitter account for the Presidential Administration of Ukraine, President Petro Poroshenko will make a statement to the media Wednesday; however, it’s not yet clear if it’s related to the reported release of Savchenko.
Savchenko was captured in June 2014 while fighting with a Ukrainian volunteer battalion against Russia-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine. She was sentenced to 22 years in prison for calling in co-ordinates for shelling that killed two Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine. The United States, Western European countries and Ukraine all called for her release.
Comments