Ukrainian woman pilot could die in Russian detention, lawyer says

Ukrainian army pilot Nadezhda (Nadia) Savchenko looks out from a defendants' cage as she attends a court hearing in Moscow, November 11, 2014. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Ukrainian female army pilot may die in detention in Russia where she is on hunger-strike, her lawyer said on Monday, calling on President Vladimir Putin to release her.

Nadezhda Savchenko was captured by pro-Russian rebels while fighting in a volunteer battalion in east Ukraine last June. Kiev says the rebels spirited her into Russia where she was arrested and accused of killing two Russian journalists.