"Ukraine's GI Jane" and "national hero", or a "Killing machine in a skirt"?
There are two starkly opposing views of the female Ukrainian
air force pilot current being held in Russia, in what has become another
battle in the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian media war.This latest information clash - played out mainly on social media as well as mainstream, pro-Kremlin media in Russia - typifies the way the conflict is being fought through opposing media narratives.
In the middle of it all is fashion designer-turned-air force helicopter pilot Nadiya Savchenko, 33.
Reportedly a member of a volunteer battalion fighting pro-Russia separatists near Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, the Russian authorities have charged her with complicity in the killing of two Russian TV journalists while taking part in a rebel checkpoint.
Ukraine accuses Russia of abducting her and has demanded her release.
'Save our girl' The pilot's cause has become the subject of an impassioned Ukrainian social media campaign portraying her as a national hero.
Support for Ms Savchenko is widespread on Ukrainian social media
Most outrage seems to focus on her mysterious appearance in Russian custody after being captured by separatists on Ukrainian territory.
"How dare the Kremlin kidnap people out of Ukraine?!" one pro-Ukrainian Twitter user fumed, to which a pro-Russian crudely responds: "Shoot this bitch like a dog".
A video showing the captured Nadiya Savchenko being interrogated by the pro-Russian insurgents has been viewed more than 580,000 times and has attracted a wave of comments commending her courage.
"There is no fear in her eyes, only disdain for the interrogator... A true hero," one commenter says. Another adds: "All of Ukraine is proud of you."
The 2011 defence ministry documentary includes footage of her service in Iraq
A profile on the page describes her as a pilot, with 10 years in the armed forces, who served in Ukraine's troop contingent in Iraq.
It also says she was captured while trying to help "wounded comrades" in her volunteer battalion in eastern Ukraine.
"Nadiya Savchenko is a Ukrainian national hero who has to be saved," is its simple tagline.
In the 2011 film, Ms Savchenko speaks passionately about her chosen career path
"I cannot explain this feeling. It is as if you are in heaven," a stylishly-dressed Ms Savchenko says in the video of her love of flying.
The film includes footage of her serving in Iraq in 2005, and describes her personal motto as "I see the goal - not the obstacles", but also highlights her other, more "feminine" interests, such as designing clothes and embroidery.
'Satan's daughter' Her image on Russian media sources loyal to the Kremlin could not be more different.
Tvoy Den's depiction of Ms Savchenko is
particularly harsh, calling her "Satan's daughter" (bottom left) and
"Bullet-fool" (top right)
Crude, and at times sexist, innuendo is used to demonise Ms Savchenko.
On its front page, tabloid Tvoy Den calls her "Satan's daughter", while another tabloid, Komsomolskaya Pravda alleges that Ms Savchenko was known as a "killing machine in a skirt".
State-run Rossiya 1 TV news takes a dim view of her political views.
"Nadezhda has obviously been turned into a zombie and has a very negative attitude to all Russia-related things," the channel's reporter says.
Pictures of Ms Savchenko in detention have been widely disseminated by Russian media
However, on Russian-based social media the picture is more nuanced, with several Twitter users mocking perceived oddities in the Russian authorities' version of events, in particular their claim that she entered the country as a refugee.
"Savchenko fled to Russia in the guise of a refugee from a bloody fascist junta and ended up in the tight embrace of brotherly democracy," one anti-Kremlin user jeers.
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