Ukrainian President's wife Maryna Poroshenko has appealed to the wife of the U.S. President, Michelle Obama, asking her to join the international campaign for the release and repatriation of Ukrainians illegally detained in Russia, including Nadia Savchenko.

"Dear Michelle, looking forward with hope that your voice will not only join the international campaign to release and return home Nadia Savchenko, but also give a new impetus to the process of liberation of the rest of Ukrainian citizens, including Oleh Sentsov, Oleksandr Kolchenko, Hennadiy Afanasyev, Akhtem Chiygoz and other hostages of the Russian punitive machine," Poroshenko wrote in a letter, posted on the website of the Ukrainian president.

She stressed that Nadia Savchenko side by side with American soldiers risked her life to restore democracy and order in Iraq, like hundreds of American women dedicated her life to defend the homeland.Savchenko was captured and imprisoned in Russia in June 2014 while she was defending the independence and freedom of the Ukrainian state, the letter says.

Poroshenko noted that the name of the Ukrainian pilot was among the 20 women - political prisoners and prisoners of conscience – declared within the Free the 20 Campaign, founded by the U.S. government in September 2015.