THE preliminary hearing in the trial of a Ukrainian neo­nazi army officer charged in connection with the deaths of two Russian journalists began in the Russian border town of Donetsk yesterday.

The hearing was soon adjourned to consider an appeal by the defence to have the trial held in Moscow, where it would receive more publicity.

Russian investigators allege that former military pilot Nadezhda Savchenko was working as a spotter in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine and provided the co-ordinates for a mortar attack that killed journalists Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin in 2014.