Free Republic

Securing pilot Nadiya Savchenko's release from Russian captivity was a PR coup for Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko but the outspoken woman feted as the nation's "Joan of Arc" may ultimately prove a thorn in his side. While in jail, Savchenko was named a lawmaker in what is now the main opposition party at a time of growing disillusion with the slow pace of reforms and tackling corruption. She has also condemned a key plank of Poroshenko's ceasefire deal with pro-Russian separatists granting them autonomy in eastern Ukraine. "She may just ask all those who are now in power - what...

Russia is not doing a very good job lately in hiding its connections with separatists in the Donbas. Nadiya Savchenko, female officer of Ukrainian army's Aydar unit who was captured in Luhansk Oblast on June 17, was transferred to prison in Voronezh, a Russian city not far from the border with Ukraine, reported television news program TSN. Savchenko is being suspected in the murder of Russian journalists while participating in Ukraine’s antiterrorist operation, though local prosecutors have not come up with an official accusation yet, the senior lieutenant’s Russian lawyer said. However, her younger sister Vira said that the Voronezh...