Good morning. We'll start the live blog today by pointing you in the direction of this Savchenko feature filed last night by RFE/RL's Dmytry Kirillov and Pete Baumgartner:
From Hero To Terrorist? Ukraine's Savchenko Refutes Terror Charges, But Admits To 'Absurd Plans'
Less than two years after being celebrated in Ukraine for her defiance toward Russian captors as a prisoner of war, opposition lawmaker Nadia Savchenko is defending herself against accusations that the former military aviator was planning a terror attack on the Ukrainian parliament.
Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Yuriy Lutsenko alleged on March 15 that the state has "irrefutable proof" that Savchenko "planned, personally recruited, and personally gave instructions about how to commit a terrorist act" in parliament using grenades, mortars, and automatic weapons.
The fervidly patriotic Savchenko was detained by officials as she entered the parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, allegedly concealing a gun and three grenades in her purse.
"All Ukrainians dream of blowing up Bankovska Street" -- where President Petro Poroshenko's office stands -- "the parliament, and the cabinet," Savchenko said on March 20. "I am dreaming to change the situation without explosions."
The charges are the latest in a string of events that have sullied the public image of Savchenko, who made a heroic return to Kyiv in May 2016 from two years of imprisonment in Russia, where she was unbending in the face of what were widely seen as trumped-up charges against her.
She was warmly embraced by Ukraine's political elite, welcomed in European capitals, and viewed as a potential presidential candidate.
But bold statements (she said Ukraine should become a kind of dictatorship) and unpopular stands (she suggested Ukraine give up Crimea in exchange for the return of separatist territory in the eastern part of the country known as the Donbas) coupled with erratic behavior (she met covertly with pro-Russia leaders in Luhansk and Donetsk) have caused her popularity in Ukraine to plummet and left her an outcast in the Verkhovna Rada.
"No one has friends in parliament," Savchenko told RFE/RL on March 21. "Politicians do not make friends with each other; they use each other."
Read more here.
We are now closing the live blog for today, but we'll be back again tomorrow morning to follow all the latest developments. Until then, you can keep up with all our other Ukraine coverage here.