Ukrainian journalist, taken hostage by Russians a year ago, died during transfer to Moscow: all the circumstances

The Ukrainian journalist of the Hromadske media outlet Viktoriia Roshchyna, who was kidnapped by the Russian occupiers last year, died in Russian captivity. The circumstances of the reporter's death are currently unknown.

The death of Viktoriia Roshchyna was reported by Petro Yatsenko, a representative of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War in Ukraine, on the air of the national telethon.

The death of the captured Ukrainian journalist in Russia was first reported by Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech, who spoke with Viktoriia's father. According to the father, he received an official notification from the Russian Federation about the death of his daughter, which allegedly occurred during the transfer from Taganrog to Moscow.

However, after a while, the MP deleted his message, explaining that he was waiting for confirmation of this information from Ukrainian law enforcement.

Later, the death of journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna was confirmed by the Coordination Center.

It also became known that Viktoriia was on the exchange list and was supposed to be home soon. This was reported by the representative of the DIU Andrii Yusov in a comment to Suspilne.

According to him, Roshchyna was transferred to the "Lefortovo" detention center in Moscow to prepare for the exchange.

"Viktoriia Roshchyna, a Ukrainian citizen illegally detained by the Russian Federation, was in the relevant databases, registers on the Ukrainian side. The Coordination Headquarters did everything possible to bring her home. Her return was agreed upon, and the latest information we have is that she was transferred to "Lefortovo" to prepare her return home," he said.

According to Yusov, the Ukrainian side does not comment on the time of the exchange when the journalist was to be returned home.

"She was supposed to be home soon, everything necessary was done for this," said the representative of the DIU.

It is currently unknown when exactly and under what circumstances the journalist died.

Former "DPR" prisoner, volunteer, and public activist Liudmyla Huseinova said that Viktoriia Roshchyna died on September 19. According to her, the journalist's body will be returned to Ukraine during the next body exchange.

The Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets said that he already has confirmation from the Russian side of the death of Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna.

"I have an official documentary confirmation from the Russian side about the death of Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, who was illegally deprived of her freedom by Russia. My sincere condolences to Viktoriia's family and friends," Lubinets wrote on Telegram.

The Office of the Prosecutor General reported that the criminal proceedings that were opened after the disappearance of Viktoriia Roshchyna were further qualified as a war crime combined with premeditated murder.

"The criminal proceedings initiated over her disappearance under Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine have been qualified by Part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder. The pre-trial investigation will be conducted by the Main Investigation Department of the Security Service of Ukraine under the procedural control of the Prosecutor General's Office," the PGO said.

As a reminder, Viktoriia Roshchyna was detained by the occupiers in August 2023 in the temporarily occupied territory from where she was reporting. It was only a year later, in May 2024, that Russia admitted that it was still holding the journalist captive.

Before that, Viktoriia had already been captured by the occupiers. It happened in March 2022. She was detained by the Russian FSB in Berdiansk when she was preparing materials about the hostilities in Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions. Roshchyna planned to travel to Mariupol to tell about what was really happening in the city, which was being shelled by Russian troops every day. At that time, the Russians held Viktoriia Roshchyna for 10 days but later released her.

In 2022, Roshchyna received the International Women's Media Foundation's Courage in Journalism Award.

As OBOZ.UA reported earlier, according to the OGPU, about a hundred criminal proceedings are currently being investigated in Ukraine regarding Russia's war crimes against journalists. It has been established that during the full-scale war, the Russian occupiers killed 49 journalists. Seven of them were representatives of foreign media. Another 43 media workers (including 19 foreigners) were injured. The invaders illegally detained or imprisoned 19 media workers.

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