“I want to fly,” says the Mi-24 helicopter navigator, who took part in combat operations in Iraq in 2004 and 2005 as part of a Ukrainian unit. In 2009, he graduated from the Kharkiv Military College, reaching the rank of captain. “I love flying and I want to fly. But if necessary, I will become president or someone else,” said the Ukrainian man, accused in Russia of participating in the deaths of two journalists and sentenced to 22 years in prison.

For Savchenko, who Ukraine exchanged for Russia on Wednesday for two Russian soldiers being held in the Donbass, the priority was Ukraine’s defence. “It doesn’t matter where I defend my homeland. For example, on the battlefield, I will go to the front. If I find that I am needed here (in Kyiv), I will stay. I will do everything and never stop. I no longer have my own life, my life is Ukraine,” he said.

He wanted to free the captives

Savchenko wants to advocate for the release of Ukrainian prisoners and rejects the notion that an exchange of detained persons is non-negotiable with the separatists. “I’ll talk to the devil if it helps. It says it’s impossible to maintain contact with the separatists, I don’t think so,” he explained.

Local elections in eastern Ukraine, which are key to a political settlement in Donbas, are deemed by Savchenko impossible if Kyiv does not fully control the Russian-Ukrainian border, part of which is now controlled by separatists. “If it were up to us, we would reach an agreement. However, various advisors do not allow us to think on our own terms. Until we think and decide for ourselves, elections are impossible,” said the Ukrainian.

According to him, Ukraine should not give up Crimea annexed by Russia without a fight. “We should have defended our country, but we didn’t. Why – that’s another question. Russia violated international law with the annexation,” he stressed. According to him, Crimea will return to Ukraine in the event of a third world war, “or when people realize the mistakes they made.”