In her final address to the court in southern Russia on Wednesday, jailed Ukrainian military pilot Nadiya Savchenko didn't mince words — she didn't have to.

Defying the Russian justice system, she leapt onto the bench inside her glass cage and raised her middle finger to the judge.

"Here's my final word!" she shouted in Ukrainian.

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Ukrainian jailed military officer Nadiya Savchenko sits in a glass cage during a trial in the town of Donetsk, Rostov-on-Don region, Russia on Wednesday, March 9, 2016. Image: AP

Courtroom footage published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Russian service (above), shows Savchenko flipping the bird while mocking the court and saying the judges proved Russians were "fascists."

Looking frail after five days without food and water, the 34-year-old Iraq War veteran said she would continue her hunger strike until the verdict in her case is handed down.

The judge said Wednesday the verdict would be announced on March 21 and 22.

"Maybe I will live that long," Savchenko said.

In her statement, read by a translator in Russian, Savchenko also called President Vladimir Putin a "tyrant" and said her trial was a "farce" orchestrated by the Kremlin.

While the court was not enthused by her message, it seemed to strike a chord with Russian opposition activists following the trial online.

Тот момент, когда миллионы граждан РФ солидарны с гражданкой Украины, в её отношении к российской судебной системе pic.twitter.com/EotNFjuP8b — Alexey Navalny (@navalny) March 9, 2016

"That moment when millions of Russians are in solidarity with a Ukrainian in her feelings about Russia's court system," opposition leader Alexei Navalny tweeted with a photo of Savchenko.

How she was captured by the Russians

People shout "Free Savchenko!" and hold portraits of the jailed military helicopter pilot during a rally in front of the Russian embassy in Kiev on March 9, 2016. Image: SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP/Getty Images

Savchenko is charged with acting as an artillery spotter and directing a mortar attack on a checkpoint manned by Russian-backed separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine that killed two Russian state TV journalists in June 2014.

Russian authorities claim she was captured on Russian soil after sneaking across the border disguised as a refugee to escape the fighting.

But Savchenko, who was fighting for Ukraine's volunteer Aidar Battalion at the time, says she was kidnapped by the separatists more than an hour before the attack and smuggled across the border to Russia. Her lawyer says her mobile phone records prove this.

Prosecutors have asked the court to sentence Savchenko to 23 years in a federal prison.

Russian prosecutors have asked the court to sentence Savchenko to 23 years in a federal prison for assisting in the journalists' deaths. She has already spent 601 days behind bars.

Kiev and Western governments say she's the victim of kidnapping and her trial is a sham. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday demanded Russia release her immediately.

Russia has proven its intent to not only complete Savchenko's trial, but to drag it out for as long as possible. The trial began last July and has since been used by the Kremlin and it's powerful state media for political gain.

A symbol of Ukrainian resistance

Activists burn the Russian flag at the Russian consulate in Lviv, western Ukraine during a rally in support of Savchenko, March 9, 2016. Image: YURIY DYACHYSHYN/AFP/Getty Images

In Ukraine, Savchenko has been made a hero and a symbol of Ukraine's resistance against Russia, which annexed Crimea and fueled the war in the country's eastern regions.

President Petro Poroshenko has awarded Savchenko the country's highest military honors, while the public voted her into parliament in absentia. Her military prowess (she was Ukraine's first female fighter pilot) has earned her the nickname "Ukraine's Joan of Arc."

Ukrainians on Wednesday demonstrated their support for her in rallies around the country, some of which turned violent. Activists in the western city of Lviv snatched a Russian flag from the country's consulate and burned it, while another group fought with police in Odessa.

What happens if she's convicted?

There is a chance Savchenko could be exchanged for two Russian soldiers who were captured by Ukraine last year and are currently on trial in Kiev for committing "terrorist acts."

Savchenko's attorney, Mark Feygin, as well as officials in Kiev and Moscow, have indicated the swap could happen after the trials are completed and guilty verdicts are handed down.

Such a deal would allow Savchenko and the Russian soldiers to be transferred to their home countries to serve out their sentences. However, it is likely they would be released after arriving on home soil.

Feygin told reporters outside the courthouse on Wednesday the swap would allow Russia "to get out from this case with dignity."

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