A day after news broke of Nadiya Savchenko’s secret meeting with the leaders of Russian-backed armed groups in the Donbas, the Batkivshchyna Party announced the lawmaker had left their ranks.

It was no coincidence: Savchenko had offered her resignation to the Batkivshchyna Party several weeks ago, but the party only announced it Dec. 12, when Savchenko was facing public criticism for meeting with the leaders of the Donbas armed groups – people the Ukrainian government, and Savchenko’s own party, brand “terrorists.”