Ukrainian military pilot Nadiya Savchenko, who was freed this week after two years in a Russian jail, has announced her readiness to become Ukrainian President, the Interfax news agency reported Friday.
“Ukrainians: if you need me to become your president, then I will be president,” said Savchenko at the first press-conference following her release.
Later on in the press-conference, Savchenko said that she was not going to become president yet, Ukrainian news website hromadske.tv reported
Savchenko also said that although she would like to serve again in the Ukrainian Air Force she would work wherever she was needed most.
“I would like to fly, but I will do what is best for Ukraine. It doesn't matter for me where I am to defend Ukraine. If necessary, I will do so on the battlefield,” she said, according to TASS.
Savchenko was sentenced by a Russian court to 22 years in prison over the involvement in the murder of two Russian journalists during the conflict in East Ukraine. She was exchanged on Wednesday for two Russian soldiers, Alexander Alexandrov and Yevgeny Yerofeyev, who were captured in eastern Ukraine.
Savchenko is a member of the Ukraine’s Batkivshchyna Party and has been recently appointed to the Ukrainian parliament's Committee on National Security and Defense. She will begin her work on May 31.
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