Read our report here on the other Ukrainians still being held by Russia.
With Russia's release of Ukrainian military pilot Nadia Savchenko, who returned to a hero's welcome in Kyiv, attention now shifts to the fate of other Ukrainians jailed in Russia on charges their supporters say are dubious.
At least 12 other Ukrainians remain in Russian prisons on convictions that have been condemned by the Ukrainian and Western governments and some international rights groups. Read More
Freed Ukrainian pilot Nadio Savchenko said she was prepared to continue fighting for her country. After nearly two years of imprisonment, she was released by Russia on May 25 in a prisoner exchange. Savchenko was swapped for two Russians who had been captured in eastern Ukraine while fighting alongside Russia-backed separatists. Speaking next to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Savchenko thanked her family and others who fought for her release. (RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service)
"On the whole, there is the impression that the [Russian government] is trying to cover or mask its lack of decisiveness by some petty agreements without resolving the main problem. The exchange is not equal from a moral point of view. I understand that our two military men had to be freed. However they [Aleksandrov and Yerofeyev] are nobodies for Russia, but Savchenko will be presented as a national heroine for Ukraine who fought against Russia, and Ukraine did not abandon her. They [the Ukrainian authorities] will get an additional stimulus from the fact that such people as Savchenko have been fruitful and multiplied in a much larger quantity."