MOSCOW
– The European Union’s foreign policy chief has told Russia to free Nadezhda
Savchenko, a Ukrainian pilot accused over the killing of two Russian
journalists, as Savchenko relaxed a hunger strike by starting to take liquids.

The
34-year-old is regarded as a national hero by many Ukrainians, but is charged
in Russia with complicity in the killing of two Russian TV journalists during
fighting between Ukrainian government troops and separatists in eastern Ukraine
in 2014.

She
denies wrongdoing.

The
EU’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, has called on the Russian
government to set Savchenko free, following similar calls from United States
officials.

“This
is no longer just a judicial or political case: now it’s a matter of human
compassion,” Mogherini said in a statement released by the bloc’s Moscow
embassy.

“Her
health condition is deteriorating rapidly and we all fear terrible
consequences,” said Mogherini, demanding Savchenko be set free on
humanitarian grounds.

Nikolai
Polozov, Savchenko’s lawyer, told Reuters his client had relaxed a hunger
strike she embarked upon to protest against what she saw as the Russian court’s
overly lengthy proceedings and had started to take liquids while still refusing
food.

She
stopped consuming liquids last Thursday.

Polozov
said she had changed her mind after a request to do so from Ukrainian President
Petro Poroshenko and her supporters.

Her
plight has prompted angry Ukrainians to pelt the Russian embassy in Kiev with
eggs and Russians to picket the Ukrainian embassy in Moscow to demand justice
for the killed journalists.

Savchenko,
who was captured by pro-Moscow rebels in June 2014 and handed over to Russia,
will be sentenced on March 21-22. She faces up to 25 years in a Russian jail if
found guilty.

She has raised the
possibility she will starve herself to death unless a deal is quickly struck
after the verdict to return her to Ukraine.

– Reuters