Body of Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna returned – Interior Ministry

The body of Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna, who died in Russian captivity, has been returned to Ukraine. Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Leonid Tymchenko, announced this in an interview with the news outlet, Censor.NET.

Viktoriia Roshchyna. Photo from Facebook

“Her body was returned as part of a recent repatriation at the end of February this year. Her identity has been confirmed through DNA analysis,” stated Tymchenko.

Meanwhile, Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, a Member of Parliament and Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech, reported that the silence surrounding the return of Roshchyna’s body was maintained due to Russia’s frequent tactic of substituting bodies, leading to uncertainty about the identification.

“Given the torture and the condition of the body, Roshchyna’s family requested not one, but several DNA examinations. To my knowledge, the tests were conducted not only in Ukraine but also abroad to ensure it was indeed Vika,” Yurchyshyn wrote.

Journalist Viktoria Roshchyna worked for the media company Hromadske and later published her work with Ukrainska Pravda and Radio Liberty. She also collaborated with Ukrainian Radio, UA: Pershyi, and Censor.net. In 2022, she received the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Courage in Journalism Award.   

Her first detention at the hands of representatives of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) in occupied Berdiansk was initially reported on March 16, 2022. On March 22, Russian forces released Roshchyna from captivity, forcing her to record a video denying any claims against the Russian special services.

In July 2023, Roshchyna attempted to travel to the occupied portions of the Zaporizhzhia region via Latvia and Russia. On 3 August 2023, relatives and friends lost contact with her. Prior to this, she had been in contact with her parents while in Poland. 

Roshchyna wrote to her sister that she had undergone numerous checks over several days while crossing the Russian border and that she did not feel safe. She did not disclose her location at the time to her family, and no further contact was made again.

Information regarding the journalist’s death was reported on 10 October 2024 to her father, Volodymyr, via a brief official email from the Russian Ministry of Defence stating: “Your daughter died on September 19, 2024, her body will be returned during one of the prisoner exchanges.” No further details were provided in the email. The Ukrainian side later confirmed this information.

However, Roshchyna’s body was not returned for several months, and the circumstances of her captivity and death remained unclear.

The journalist was on the exchange lists and was supposed to be transferred from Taganrog to Moscow’s Lefortovo pre-trial detention centre. Though Roshchyna’s body is reported to have numerous signs of torture, the exact cause of death is still unknown. 

Read also: “She weighed up to 30 kilograms”: Journalist Roshchyna tortured in Russian captivity – investigation

Ukrainian journalists and media professionals have called on the international community to take decisive and immediate action regarding the killing of Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna while she was held in Russian captivity.