Russia officially confirms death of journalist Viktoria Roshchyna in captivity — commissioner

According to him, the reasons for the death of Viktoria Roshchyna in Russian captivity are unknown.

Lubinets noted that he informed the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross to record the fact of the death of a civilian illegally detained by the Russian Federation.

Petro Yatsenko, a representative of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, reported that Viktoria Roshchyna was being prepared for exchange: "The fact that she was being transferred from Taganrog to Moscow was a stage of her preparation for release."

Viktoria’s father learned about the journalist's death earlier, but at that time the information received from the Russians was still being checked.

Viktoria Roshchyna went missing on August 3, 2023 in the temporarily occupied territories. In May 2024, Russia confirmed for the first time that it was holding her captive.

In March 2022, Viktoria Roshchyna was also detained by security forces of the FSB of the Russian Federation, when she was preparing materials about military operations in the Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk oblasts. Roshchyna planned to go all the way to Mariupol to report on what was really happening in the city, which was shelled daily by Russian troops.

She was held for 10 days, but later released from captivity. Since then, she continued to work as a journalist in the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government.

Viktoria Roshchyna worked for hromadske, and then published in Ukrainska Pravda and Radio Liberty. In 2022, she received the award of the International Women's Media Foundation "For Courage in Journalism".