ROSTOV, Russia – A Russian court has rejected an appeal from Ukrainian military pilot Nadiya Savchenko over an extension of her detention. The Rostov regional court on October 5 upheld a ruling by another court on September 15 prolonging Ms. Savchenko’s stay in jail until January.
Russian officials say Ms. Savchenko, who served in a volunteer battalion in eastern Ukraine, where she was fighting against Russian-backed separatists, provided the coordinates for a mortar attack that killed two Russian journalists in 2014.
Ms. Savchenko has insisted she was captured by rebels in Ukraine and illegally taken into Russia. She had previously gone on a hunger strike to protest her detention. International rights groups have called for Ms. Savchenko to be released. Ms. Savchenko was also elected in absentia to Ukraine’s Parliament last year.
Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax.