Russia frees Ukraine pilot

Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko returned home to a hero's welcome yesterday after nearly two years in a Russian prison, drawing a line under a damaging diplomatic spat between Moscow and Kiev.

The 35-year-old army helicopter pilot flew home as part of an apparent prisoner swap with Moscow, with two alleged Russian soldiers leaving Ukraine earlier in the day.

"I'm ready to once again give my life for Ukraine on the battlefield," a defiant Savchenko declared as she touched down on home soil.

Savchenko, an Iraq war veteran, was convicted in March over the killing of two Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine and sentenced to 22 years behind bars. She had been held in captivity in Russia since June 2014.

Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday said the relatives of the two Russian journalists had asked him to pardon Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko.

EU foreign affairs supremo Federica Mogherini hailed the release as "long awaited good news" and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he was "happy and relieved" at her release.

Meanwhile, President Petro Poroshenko yesterday vowed that Ukraine would take back the annexed peninsula of Crimea and rebel-held territory in the east of the country following her release.

"Just as we brought back Nadiya, we will bring back Donbass and Crimea under Ukraine's control," Poroshenko said as he awarded Savchenko with a Hero of Ukraine order, his country's highest honour.

In Ukraine, Nadiya has become a symbol of resistance against what Kiev sees as Moscow's aggression in the east and has been elected to parliament in her absence.

While in prison, she launched several hunger strikes to protest her detention, refusing both food and water during her high-profile trial in southern Russia. She constantly defied the Russian authorities and even raised her middle finger at the court in March.