Savchenko eating ‘to survive until trial’

MOSCOW – Ukrainian military pilot Nadia Savchenko, who has been on hunger strike to protest being held in a Russian jail, has reportedly resumed eating small amounts of food. Mikhail Fedotov and Yelizaveta Glinka, members of Russia’s presidential human rights council, say Ms. Savchenko has begun eating dairy products with the aim of staying alive until her trial, which has yet to be scheduled. The announcement came after Mr. Fedotov and Ms. Glinka visited the pilot at Moscow’s Matrosskaya Tishinka prison on April 3. This is the second time Savchenko, 33, has interrupted her hunger strike. Citing health concerns, she briefly resumed eating in early March after more than 80 days without solid food. She returned to her fast on March 16. Ms. Savchenko, a member of Ukraine’s volunteer Aidar Battalion, is charged in connection with a June 2014 mortar attack that killed two Russian journalists covering the conflict between government forces and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. She says she was kidnapped by separatists in June and illegally transferred to Russia. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by TASS and Interfax)