Ukraine pilot denounces trial as ‘a farce of Kremlin puppets’

A Ukrainian pilot charged over the deaths of two Russian journalists has denounced her trial as a farce.

“In Russia, there are no courts and no investigations,” 34-year-old Nadezhda Savchenko told the court in the Russian border town of Donetsk.

“Here there is the farce of Kremlin puppets.

“If you want to show your strength, go ahead. But remember, we are playing with my life.

"The stakes are high and I have nothing to lose.”

The judge said he would announce his verdict on March 21 or 22 on her role in the deaths of the journalists in eastern Ukraine.

Prosecutors last week asked the court to convict Savchenko and sentence her to 23 years in prison.

Savchenko declared a hunger strike last week and has a high fever, according to tweets from one of her lawyers, Nikolai Polozov.

Savchenko was fighting with a Ukrainian volunteer battalion against Russia-backed rebels when she was captured in June 2014.

Russia claims she was a spotter who called in coordinates for a mortar attack that killed the two journalists and several other civilians.