Mr. Speaker, Nadia Savchenko, Ukraine's first female fighter pilot, was captured and kidnapped out of Ukraine during Russia's military invasion.
In 2014, Savchenko was among the protestors in Maidan, who stood up to the corrupt rule of Viktor Yanukovych. As an officer of Ukraine's armed forces, she defended the unity of her country against Russian mercenaries and proxies in the East. She is a duly elected Ukrainian member of parliament and a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
The attempt to break Ukraine's spirit through the farce of a trial of Ukraine's Joan d'Arc has in fact strengthened her resolve. As she stated at the conclusion of her show trial, which sentenced her to 22 years, “Russia will return me to Ukraine — dead or alive” and declared a hunger strike. She is close to death, another in the long list of victims of Putin's regime.
I call on our Parliament to show our support for Nadia and demand of Putin that she be returned to her beloved Ukraine.
Nadiu, Slava Ukraini, Herojam Slava.