Ukrainian freelance journalist Viktoria Roshchina reportedly died on September 19, while being transferred from the southwestern Russian city of Taganrog to Moscow, the capital, for a prisoner exchange.
The death of the 27-year-old journalist was confirmed on October 10 by Petro Yatsenko, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian government’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, and Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, head of Ukraine’s parliamentary committee on freedom of speech. Russian authorities officially notified Roshchina’s father about her death, Yurchyshyn said.
Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office announced on October 11 the launch of an investigation into Roshchina’s death under Part 2 of Article 438 of the Ukrainian criminal code, which pertains to the “violation of the laws and customs of war combined with intentional murder.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists, along with nine media and civil society organizations, welcomed Ukraine’s investigation and demanded that Russian authorities conduct their own.
In addition, 270 media representatives signed a statement urging the United Nations and other international organizations to protect the rights of other Ukrainian journalists held captive by Russia. “Knowing that Viktoria Roshchina had been in captivity for over a year and that she was physically healthy before her imprisonment by Russian forces, we have every reason to believe that her death was either the result of intentional murder or a consequence of the cruel treatment and violence she suffered while in Russian captivity,” the statement said.
Roshchina, who covered the war in Ukraine for several Ukrainian media outlets, went missing on August 3, 2023, while reporting on eastern Ukraine. Her detention was confirmed by Russia in April 2024.
In March 2022, Roshchina was detained by Russian forces for 10 days while reporting in southeastern Ukraine. That same month, Russian forces in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region fired on her vehicle.
CPJ’s emails to the Russian Ministry of Defense and Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War about Roshchina did not receive a response.