Ukrainian Member of Parliament Nadiia Savchenko claims she is ready to provide guarantees for the release of Head of the Ukrainian "Officer Corps" center for the exchange of prisoners of war (POW) Volodymyr Ruban, who was detained in Donbas on March 8 on charges of plotting a terrorist act against the country's top officials in Kyiv.
"I have never disowned anyone in my life, even being in Russian captivity. And I will not do this in Ukraine. I ask to release Volodymyr Ruban against my guarantees," Savchenko said at a briefing in Kyiv on March 15.
Read alsoRuban arrested until May 6
Savchenko was summoned to testify in the case against Ruban and entered the building of the Main Directorate of the SBU Security Service in Kyiv and Kyiv region at 10:45 Kyiv time. She was accompanied by her sister Vira, an UNIAN correspondent reports.
As reported earlier, Savchenko arrived in Ukraine from Munich in the early hours of March 15.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ruban was detained on the contact line with the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic" at the Maiorsk checkpoint in Donetsk region on March 8.
He reportedly attempted to smuggle a huge arsenal of weapons from the militant-occupied areas into the government-controlled territory.
Ruban is being charged with preparing a terrorist attack and illegal possession of weapons. In addition, he is suspected of plotting an assassination of the president of Ukraine and a number of top officials in Kyiv.
Ruban has denied all charges, claiming he merely acted as a truck driver and knew nothing about the weapons hidden in furniture in the back of the vehicle.
On March 9, 2018, Kyiv's Shevchenkivsky district court chose a preventive measure for Ruban – 60-day imprisonment without bail.
