Here's a Savchenko update from our news desk:
A court in Moscow on May 6 extended the pre-trial detention of Ukrainian pilot and parliament member Nadia Savchenko until June 30.
The announcement was made on Twitter by her lawyer, Nikolai Polozov..
The hearing came a day after Savchenko's lawyer announced that Russian authorities have extended their preliminary inquiry into Savchenko’s case until November 13.
Savchenko has been jailed in Russia since July, when she says she was illegally brought into the country after being abducted by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
She is charged with complicity in the killing of two Russian journalists who died in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, as well as illegal border crossing.
She denies guilt and conducted a hunger strike for more than 80 days to protest her incarceration.
The United States said on May 5 that it is concerned over the "callous and outrageous" treatment of Savchenko by Russian authorities, and called for her immediate release.
(Reuters, AP, dpa, TASS)
Here are some new comments by Petro Poroshenko on the situation in eastern Ukraine, reported by RFE/RL's news desk:
Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko warned on May 6 of an increasing threat of extensive military action in the east of the country.
Poroshenko told a security and defense council meeting in Kyiv that "the threat of large-scale military action from Russian terrorist groups not only remains but is growing."
According to a statement posted on his website, Poroshenko said there were more than 40,000 pro-Moscow fighters in the rebel-controlled territories and a further 50,000 Russian troops across the border.
Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said four Ukrainian servicemen had been killed by a landmine and a fifth in a rebel ambush since May 5.
Casualties are reported on a regular basis despite the truce, brokered in February in the Belarusian capital Minsk to end a year-old conflict in which more than 6,000 have been killed.
(Reuters, Interfax)