Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko, who is accused of being involved in the death of Russian journalists, announced a hunger strike at a meeting of the Donetsk city court in the Rostov region on Thursday, Savchenko's lawyer Nikolai Polozov tweeted.

"Nadia Savchenko has gone on a hunger strike until the end of the trial. She will go on a 'dry' hunger strike after the sentence. She demands to be released," Polozov wrote.

According to the detectives, Savchenko was staying in the location of the Aidar battalion near the Metallist neighborhood in the Slovyanoserbsk district of the Luhansk region on June 17, 2014, on a mission of secret surveillance and adjustment of artillery fire on a roadblock of the Luhansk militants where three Russians – VGTRK correspondents – were present. Two Russian citizens – Igor Kornelyuk and Antonov Voloshin – were killed as a result of the attack. Savchenko denied all charges.

Savchenko has been in custody in Russia since July 2014, on the counts of abetting the murder of Kornelyuk and Voloshin in southeastern Ukraine. The period of her arrest has been extended until January 16, 2016.