Conflicts

Ukrainian prosecutors are investigating the death of a 27-year-old Ukrainian journalist in Russian custody as a possible war crime. 

Prosecutors are investigating her death as premeditated murder after a previous investigation was opened into her disappearance. 

Russian authorities have told the parents of Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna (27) that their daughter has died. As always with these suspicious deaths of opponents of the regime in Russia, what exactly happened is not clear. The young woman was in jail in Russia and reportedly died while being transferred from the city of Taganrog to Moscow. 

The Ukrainian journalist disappeared in August 2023 in a Russian-occupied part of Ukraine. In May 2024, Russia finally admitted to holding her captive. Now she allegedly died when she was transferred to another prison. 

Roshchyna reported on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Andri Yusov reported that Roshchyna was actually about to be released. After all, she was to be exchanged in the next exchange of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine. To do so, she would be transferred to a detention center in Moscow. But during that move, she would thus have died in unclear circumstances.

As a journalist, Roshchyna tried to record daily life in areas occupied by the Russians, such as in eastern Ukraine or Crimea. And that was clearly not to the Kremlin's liking. Roshchyna published for Ukrainska Pravda and Radio Liberty, among others. 

(FVDV for Tagtik/Illustration picture: Pixabay)