The body of journalist Viktoria Roshchyna, who was tortured in Russian captivity, was returned to Ukraine

The body of journalist Viktoria Roshchyna, who was in Russian captivity, was returned to Ukraine.

This was reported by Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Leonid Tymchenko in an interview with Censor.NET.

The body of Victoria Roshchyna was returned during repatriation in late February 2025. She was identified using DNA testing.

The journalist was captured by the Russians in August 2023 while reporting from Russian-occupied territories. It was later revealed that the journalist was being held in pre-trial detention center No. 2 in Taganrog, Rostov region, Russia. In October 2024, the Russian Defense Ministry sent a letter to her father Volodymyr Roshchyn, stating that Victoria had died in captivity.

An investigation by Slidstvo.Info, Reporters Without Borders, Suspilne, and Graty found that the Russians first captured Roshchyna and held her in torture chambers in the occupied territory of the Zaporizhzhia region, and later transported her to Taganrog. Roshchyna was held in Russian prisons without any charges being brought against her.

The journalist was held in occupied Enerhodar, then in Melitopol. There, Victoria was tortured — the journalistʼs body had knife wounds, with which she arrived at the pre-trial detention center after being held in the occupation. In addition to knife cuts, the Russians also tortured the journalist with electric shocks. Over time, Victoria began to lose weight rapidly.

The capture and death of Victoria Roshchyna

Viktoriya Roshchyna was first captured by the Russians in March 2022. She was traveling from Zaporizhzhia to Mariupol, but ended up in occupied Berdyansk, where she was held for 10 days. There, the journalist was forced to record a video saying that she did not blame Russia.

A year later, on August 3, 2023, Roshchyna disappeared in the temporarily occupied territories from where she was supposed to be reporting. After August 3, Victoria did not make any contact. In May 2024, Russia confirmed that it was again holding her captive.

On October 10, it became known that Roshchyna died during a transfer from Taganrog to Moscow. The cause of her death and when it happened were not reported.

The GUR representative Andriy Yusov told Babel that Ukraine already had agreements on Roshchynaʼs return home and she was supposed to return to Ukraine in the near future.

On October 11, the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office further qualified the criminal proceedings opened into her disappearance, adding Part 2 of Article 438 of the countryʼs Criminal Code — violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder.

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