Germany hopes for humanitarian solution for jailed Ukrainian pilot

Former Ukrainian army pilot Nadezhda Savchenko looks out from a glass-walled cage during a verdict hearing at a court in the southern border town of Donetsk in Rostov region, Russia, in this still image taken from video March 22, 2016. REUTERS/REUTERS TV

MOSCOW (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Wednesday he hoped a humanitarian solution could be found for Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko who was on Tuesday sentenced to 22 years in jail by a Russian court.

"We have taken note that a verdict has been reached and I hope for a humanitarian solution to the case," Steinmeier said in response to a question at a news conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.

The Russian court had found Savchenko guilty of being involved in the killing of two Russian journalists in the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine.

(Reporting by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Paul Carrel)