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Savchenko Will Continue Hunger Strike Until Russian Prisoners Sentenced in Kiev

Ukrainian army pilot Nadezhda Savchenko speaks inside a defendants' cage as she attends a hearing at the Basmanny district court in Moscow. Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters

Former Ukrainian military pilot Nadezhda Savchenko ?€” currently serving a sentence of 22 years in Russian prison ?€” will remain on hunger strike until two Russian soldiers detained in Ukraine are sentenced, the Interfax news agency reported Monday, citing Savchenko's lawyers.

"Nadezhda continues the hunger strike. She is waiting for the sentence [of Yevgeny Yerofeev and Alexander Alexandrov's] and will decide how to proceed depending on the results," Savchenko's lawyer Mark Feigin told Interfax, adding that his client expects to be traded for them.

Feigin also mentioned that Savchenko's health is stable and she is ?€?doing only what she thinks is right," despite attempts by her family to persuade her to stop the hunger strike.

The verdict for the Russian soldiers ?€” on trial for their activities in eastern Ukraine ?€” may be announced Monday. The prosecution has requested that they each be sentenced to 15 years in prison, Interfax reported.

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