Jailed Ukrainian Pilot 'May Be Transferred to Hospital'

A Ukrainian airforce pilot who has been on hunger strike in a Russian jail for 81 days will be transferred to a civilian hospital if her health deteriorates, the prison service said Tuesday.

The statement by Russia's prison service raised the possibility of Nadia Savchenko, who is also a member of the Ukraine parliament, being transferred from the hospital of a Moscow prison where she has been held for nearly nine months.

The 33-year-old helicopter navigator has been charged with involvement in the deaths of two Russian reporters in a mortar attack in east Ukraine.

She denies the charges, saying she was kidnapped and brought to Russia. In protest at the detention she launched a hunger strike on December 13.

"As soon as we see that there are serious complications we will request that civilian medical institutions take her and treat her," first deputy chief of the prison service, Anatoly Rudy, told Russian reporters.

He insisted that as of now Savchenko's condition was stable. The prison service confirmed his comment.

Human rights activists and lawyers however have sounded the alarm, with the Kremlin's rights council urging the Investigative Committee to allow the Ukrainian's release from jail on humanitarian grounds.

Yelena Masyuk, a member of the council, said late last week that Savchenko could "die within days."

Few expect Savchenko, who has described herself as "very stubborn," to relent and end her strike.

In a phone call with President Vladimir Putin late Monday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French leader Francois Hollande urged the pilot's release.

Earlier Monday, Poroshenko bestowed on Savchenko the country's highest honor, Hero of Ukraine, saying she was a "symbol of the invincibility of the Ukrainian spirit and heroism."

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on Savchenko, referring all inquiries to the Investigative Committee.