Ukrainian journalist died in Russian captivity, Kyiv says

KYIV — Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna, who had gone missing in Russian-occupied Ukraine more than a year ago, has died in a Russian prison, officials in Kyiv said.

The Ukrainian general prosecutor’s office said on Friday that it will be investigating Roshchyna’s death as a war crime and murder.

“Viktoria died as she was about to be exchanged during one of the upcoming prisoner exchanges,” Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov told POLITICO on Friday. “Russia did not inform of the cause of her death.”

“Her return was agreed, and the last information we know, she was being transferred to Lefortovo prison[in Moscow] to prepare for her return home,” Petro Yatsenko, representative of Ukraine’s prisoner exchange coordination staff, said on a Ukrainian national fundraising telethon late on Thursday.

Roshchyna, 27, went missing in August 2023 in the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, where she was reporting about illegal elections held by the Kremlin, the destruction of Kakhovka dam in the Kherson region and the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.  

A terrible tragic news: Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna, who was kidnapped in the occupied territories of Ukraine, has died in a Russian prison. It has happened on September 19th, but her father received the news only today. She was on hunger strike for many days, many… pic.twitter.com/FHXc5rii2m

— Anastasia Magazova 🌻 (@a_magazova) October 10, 2024

“Only in May 2024 in Russia it was confirmed that she was detained and is on the territory of the Russian Federation,” Ukrainian Human Rights Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said in a statement on Thursday. “Why a young woman died while in Russian captivity is unknown,” the ombudsman added.

Roshchyna’s colleagues mourned her death, remembering her dedication to the profession and her willingness to take risks for a story.

“Nothing could stop Vika if an idea was born in her head. Nothing was more important to her than journalism,” Yevheniia Motorevska, one of Roshchyna’s former editors, wrote on Facebook on Friday. ” Vika has always been where the most important events for the country took place.”

More than 30 Ukrainian journalists are still illegally held in Russia as prisoners, according to Ukrainian MP Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, who is head of the freedom of speech committee in Ukraine’s parliament.

Overall, thousands of Ukrainian civilians are being held in Russian prisons.