Kiev announces death of journalist Victoria Roshchyna, imprisoned in Russia

The Ukrainian government announced Friday that it is opening an investigation into the death of arrested journalist Victoria Roshchyna. The news professional was incarcerated in Russia after being detained while reporting from the Russian-occupied eastern Ukrainian territories.

Victoria Roshchyna, who would have turned 28 this month, disappeared in August last year after traveling to eastern Ukraine. She remained missing until April 2024, when her father received a letter from the Defense Ministry in Moscow informing him that she was being held in Russia.

The investigation by the Ukrainian Prosecutor's Office comes after the Ukrainian official responsible for prisoners of war in the conflict with Russia announced that Roschyna had died in a Russian prison according to the information he had received.

There is little information about the circumstances under which Roschyna was captured. Nor are there many details about her detention in Russia. Russian media outlet Mediazona reported that she died while being transported to Moscow from a prison in Taganrog, near the Ukrainian border.

Roshchyna worked as a freelancer for several independent media outlets, including Ukrainska Pravda, and had worked with the Ukrainian service of the European media outlet Radio Free Europe. In 2022, the International Women's Media Foundation awarded her the Courage in Journalism Award for her reporting from eastern Ukraine.