27-year-old Ukrainian journalist confirmed dead after year of captivity in Russia

An award-winning Ukrainian journalist held captive in Russia for more than a year has been confirmed dead, authorities said this week.

Victoria Roshchyna, 27, disappeared in August 2023 after traveling to Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine to report.

A freelance journalist, her work on the front lines shed light on life in Ukraine under Russian occupation at the start of the invasion, which began in 2022.

Roshchyna was missing until April, when her father received a letter from the Moscow Defense Ministry claiming she was being detained in Russia, according to reports.

Even then, the details of her arrest and the exact location where she was being held remained unknown.

“Unfortunately, the information about Victoria’s death has been confirmed,” Petro Yatsenko, spokesman for Ukraine’s coordination headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war, said Thursday.

Russian newspaper Mediazona reported that she died while being transferred to Moscow from a prison near the Ukrainian border.

A letter her family reportedly received from the Russian Defense Ministry said she died on September 19, according to the organization Reporters Without Borders.

Roshchyna was supposed to participate in a prisoner exchange, according to Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov. “Everything necessary has been done” for the exchange, he said.

Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office said it had updated its war crimes investigation into Roshchyna’s disappearance to include the murder.

The European Union demanded “a thorough and independent investigation that clarifies all the circumstances” of his death, according to a press release.

“His fate is a tragic reminder of the thousands of people detained in the occupied Ukrainian territories and in Russia, as well as the repression imposed by the Russian authorities,” the EU said.

Roshchyna received the 2022 Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women in Media Foundation for her reporting.

“We hope his death will not be in vain,” the group said in a statement. “The international community must put pressure on Russia to stop targeting journalists and silencing press freedom. »

Thousands of Ukrainian civilians and journalists are being detained without charge in Russian facilities, without access to a lawyer, BBC Russia reported in January.

With post wires