That's according to a senior Obama administration official who wasn't authorized to discuss the conversation by name and requested anonymity. The White House had previously disclosed that Obama and Putin spoke by phone on Monday.
Savchenko was fighting with a Ukrainian volunteer battalion against Russia-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine when she was captured in June 2014.
Russia claims she was acting as a spotter who called in coordinates for a mortar attack that killed two Russian journalists and several other civilians.
She has gone on a hunger strike and refused to take water after a court hearing last Thursday. Rights advocates fear she could die if she kept refusing water.
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