MOSCOW — Of the hundreds of prisoners of war captured during the nearly yearlong fighting in eastern Ukraine, only one was mentioned by name on the agenda of world leaders at peace talks in Minsk, Belarus: Nadiya V. Savchenko, a former lieutenant in the Ukrainian military, helicopter navigator and graduate of Ukraine’s Air Force Academy.
Ms. Savchenko, 33, is not being held in eastern Ukraine by Russian-backed separatists. She is in a Moscow prison, charged by Russia in connection with the killings of two Russian journalists who died in Ukraine last June while covering a war that the Kremlin has long insisted does not involve Russia or its military.
As the leaders in Minsk announced on Thursday that they had reached a broad agreement for a cease-fire and weapons pullback in eastern Ukraine, there was also a specific proviso for Ms. Savchenko’s release. President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine, for whom winning the flier’s freedom had become a priority, announced the condition at a news conference.
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At one hearing, she used her opportunity to speak to address the television cameras more than the judge: “I’m tired of Russia’s lies, your deceitful judges and your dishonest media,” she said.
Since her detention, she has been elected to the Ukrainian Parliament as a member of the Fatherland party led by the former prime minister Yulia V. Tymoshenko. Last month, other lawmakers from the party wore T-shirts to Parliament that read, “Free Nadiya Savchenko.”
As a result of the cease-fire agreement in Minsk, it seems they will get their wish. Mr. Poroshenko said at a news conference that there was a provision for all prisoners of war to be set free within 19 days, and he said there was a specific understanding that Ms. Savchenko would be released.
