Body of Ukrainian journalist who died in Russian captivity repatriated in February

The body of the Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna, who died in Russian captivity in September at the age of 27, was returned to Ukraine in February, Ukraine’s Deputy Interior Minister Leonid Tymchenko revealed on Thursday.

Roshchyna’s body “was returned as part of a repatriation deal at the end of February this year. Her identity was established through DNA testing,” Tymchenko said.

Roshchyna was detained in August 2023 while reporting undercover from Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine. After initially being held in the cities of Enerhodar and Melitopol, she was later transferred to a pretrial detention centre run by Russia’s Federal Security Service in the southern Russian city of Taganrog. No official explanation for her detention was ever given.

The Russian Defence Ministry only confirmed last April that Roshchyna was in their custody when it wrote to her father, Volodymyr Roshchyn, saying simply that “Viktoria Vladimirovna Roshchyna, born on 6 October 1996, is being detained and is on the territory of the Russian Federation.”

However, on 10 October, Roshchyna’s father received another letter from Russia announcing her death, though it failed to clarify the circumstances of her passing. Ukrainian news outlet Graty subsequently reported that she had died on 19 September.

A documentary about Roshchyna, Vika’s Last Assignment, made by Slidstvo.Info, a team of independent Ukrainian journalists, with Reporters Without Borders and Ukrainian media outlets Suspilne and Graty, describes how Roshchyna was tortured while she was held in Russian captivity and lost up to 30 kilogrammes.