Ukrainian consul denied meeting with pilot Savchenko in Russian jail for ninth time

Ukrainian Consul to the Russian Federation Hennadiy Breskalenko has been again denied a visit to Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko, who is imprisoned in Voronezh, the pilot's sister Vera Savchenko said.

"Today is the ninth time he has not been allowed to visit her," she said at a briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday.

According to Vera Savchenko, Russian defense lawyer Mark Feigin is also on his way to her sister. Ukrainian journalists are also present there, she added.

She also said that she was still waiting for permission to visit her sister.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry has opened an account to collect funds to purchase necessities for the pilot, Vera Savchenko added.

Savchenko, 31, fought in eastern Ukraine in the ranks of the Aidar volunteer battalion and in June was taken prisoner by militia forces near the town of Schastia in Luhansk region.

She resurfaced on July 8 - reports said she was currently in a detention center in Voronezh.

The Russian Investigative Committee claims that she crossed the border into Russia without any identification papers and masquerading as a Ukrainian refugee, and that officials who stopped her in a Russian village for an identity inspection identified her as a suspect in the killing of Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin, reporters for Russian radio and television company VGTRK.

The Voronezh Regional Court ordered her to remain in custody until August 30.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has instructed the Prosecutor General's Office and the Security Service to look into the circumstances of Savchenko's transfer to Russian territory. Poroshenko also instructed the Foreign Ministry and other government agencies to take every possible measure to secure the Ukrainian pilot's unconditional release by Russia and her return home.

The Ukrainian presidential press service reported on July 14 that Russian presidential chief of staff Sergei Ivanov had promised to arrange a Ukrainian consul's access to Savchenko. However, the consul has still not been able to meet with the pilot