Body of tortured Ukrainian journalist Roshchyna returned to Ukraine (UPDATED)
The remains of Viktoria Roshchyna, a Ukrainian journalist who worked for hromadske, were repatriated to Ukraine in late February 2025, Deputy Interior Minister Leonid Tymchenko told Censor.NET.
A DNA analysis confirmed her identity, he said.
11:28 AM update The head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech, Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, explained why there has been no news of the return of Roshchyna's body.
According to him, it was necessary to remain silent because Russians often use body-swapping tactics and there was no certainty that it was Viktoria who had been returned. Due to the torture she had suffered and the condition of her body, the journalist's family requested not one, but several DNA examinations - some of which were conducted abroad to be sure.
However, now, one can say with certainty that the body of the deceased Viktoria has been returned home.
Earlier investigations revealed that Roshchyna was initially detained in occupied Enerhodar and later transferred to Melitopol.
A fellow prisoner recounted seeing multiple scars on Roshchyna’s arms and legs, as well as knife wounds.
“She told me they tortured her with electric shocks, and she was all blue,” the cellmate said.
Roshchyna’s condition deteriorated severely; she refused food, weighed under 30 kilograms, and was too weak to lift her head from the pillow.
“I helped her stand,” the cellmate added.
The murder of Viktoria Roshchyna
Roshchyna went missing on August 3, 2023, in Russian-occupied territories. Russia confirmed her detention in May 2024, after holding her for nearly a year without acknowledgment. She had previously been abducted by Russian forces in March 2022 while reporting in Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk oblasts but was released after 10 days.
Her death was reported on October 10, 2024, when her father, Volodymyr Roshchyn, received a letter from Russian authorities stating she died on September 19, 2024, during transfer from Taganrog to Moscow. Ukrainian officials later verified the information.
The Media Initiative for Human Rights confirmed Roshchyna was held in at least two facilities: Correctional Colony No. 77 in occupied Berdyansk and Taganrog’s SIZO No. 2 in Russia, notorious as “one of the harshest detention sites for Ukrainians in Russia.”
Roshchyna collaborated with hromadske, Ukrainska Pravda, Radio Svoboda, Ukrainian Radio, UA:PBC, and Censor.NET.
In 2022, she received the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Courage in Journalism Award for her frontline reporting.