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World

Ukrainian officer on trial in Russia says she was kidnapped by Russians

Associated Press
Published | Updated
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    Ukrainian jailed military officer Nadezhda Savchenko, left, stands in a cage during a court hearing in a town of Donetsk, Rostov-on-Don region, Russia, on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2015. The Russian court has begun hearing the high-profile case against Ukrainian officer Nadezhda Savchenko, who is charged in the deaths of two Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine. Russian investigators allege that Savchenko, who served in a volunteer battalion fighting with government troops against Russia-backed rebels, provided the coordinates for a mortar attack that killed the journalists in June 2014. (AP Photo) (The Associated Press)

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    Ukrainian jailed military officer Nadezhda Savchenko stands in a cage during a court hearing in a town of Donetsk, Rostov-on-Don region, Russia, on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2015. The Russian court has begun hearing the high-profile case against Ukrainian officer Nadezhda Savchenko, who is charged in the deaths of two Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine. Russian investigators allege that Savchenko, who served in a volunteer battalion fighting with government troops against Russia-backed rebels, provided the coordinates for a mortar attack that killed the journalists in June 2014. (AP Photo) (The Associated Press)

MOSCOW – A Ukrainian officer charged with the deaths of two Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine said Tuesday she was kidnapped by Russians after she was captured by separatist rebels.

Russian prosecutors claim Nadezhda Savchenko intentionally targeted journalists and civilians when Ukrainian forces attacked rebel positions in June 2014.

Savchenko, a Ukrainian pilot who served in a volunteer battalion fighting alongside government troops against Russia-backed rebels, told the court on Tuesday she had been captured before the mortar attack on civilians and journalists.

After a week of captivity in the rebel-held Luhansk, Savchenko said, she was handed over to unknown men with Russian accents who took her across the border.

The Ukrainian government has been campaigning for Savchenko's release, claiming that the charges against her were trumped up.