Russian authorities report death of Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna. Information to be verified

Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech, spoke with Roschyna's father.

Her father learned of his daughter's death after talking to MP Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech.

Yurchyshyn later deleted his post from Telegram, before writing that he was waiting for confirmation of Roshchyna's death from Ukrainian law enforcement agencies.

The journalist's father received an official notification of his daughter's death, which allegedly occurred during the transfer from Taganrog to Moscow. Yurchyshyn promised him that Ukraine would "do everything possible" to ensure that Roshchyna's killers "suffer the punishment they deserve."

"The Russians took a talented journalist hostage in August 2023. And now they have killed her," the lawmaker wrote.

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 the FSB while she was preparing materials about the hostilities in Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk oblasts. Roshchyna planned to travel as far as Mariupol to report on what was really happening in the city, which was being shelled by Russian troops on a daily basis.

She was held for 10 days, but later released. Since then, she has continued to work as a journalist in the government-controlled area.

Viktoria Roshchyna previously worked for hromadske and was later published by Ukrayinska Pravda and Radio Liberty. In 2022, she received the International Women's Media Foundation's Courage in Journalism Award.