The Tragic Tale of Viktoria Roshchyna: A Journalist’s Fight for Truth
Gather round, dear readers, because the story of Viktoria Roshchyna is one that makes you want to scream at the universe while simultaneously shaking your head in utter disbelief. The poor girl, a 27-year-old journalist, didn’t just fall into the clutches of Russian captivity once but twice – breaking records, if that’s something to brag about. Spoiler alert: it definitely isn’t.
Viktoria: The Unmatched Heroine of Journalism
Viktoria wasn’t your run-of-the-mill journalist. Oh no, she was an adventurous soul, charged with an unmatched sense of injustice. Can you imagine? At just 16, she dove headfirst into the murky waters of reporting, muddying her hands on matters that many would avoid like the plague. Her daring escapades saw her reporting from the very heart of occupied territories, while others were ensconced in the comfort of their homes, binge-watching Netflix.
Since the onset of the full-scale invasion, around 82 media workers have fallen to the grim realities of war. That’s more journalists than I’ve managed to offend in a lifetime!
A Dark Turn: Captivity and Death
But it gets worse, mates. Viktoria met her tragic demise during her second stint in Russian captivity, a place well-known for housing horrors that would make even the bravest folks squirm. After her family last heard from her in August 2023, the clock was ticking. Fast forward to September 19, 2024, when reports confirmed that Viktoria had passed away in Russian custody without a clear cause. The response from the Russian Ministry of Defense? A simple email stating, “Hey, she’s dead, but don’t worry, we’ll send the corpse back eventually!” Because nothing says “we care” like a corporate email about your loved one’s demise, right?
“Unfortunately, we didn’t have time,” said Petro Yatsenko when discussing the tragic circumstances surrounding her death and missed prisoner exchange. It’s a situation so absurd that you could almost imagine it as a dark comedy sketch—wouldn’t that get a laugh in a twisted sort of way?
A Journalist’s Bravery in Harrowing Conditions
Victoria’s first capture lasted a mere 10 days in early 2022, where she was held and coerced into defending her captors, claiming they “saved her life.” Talk about a twisted sense of gratitude! The irony here could fill a whole book
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She was known for her unyielding spirit, refusing food and demanding her release despite the physical abuses inflicted upon her. One might imagine a dramatic movie scene, but unfortunately, this isn’t a blockbuster; it’s a grim reality where the good guys hardly ever win.
The Aftermath: An Investigation into a Crime
Authorities are now investigating her death as a war crime. Because after all, it’s just a casual Tuesday when a government suddenly decides to prop up their interest by pretending they care about an innocent person’s death. Dmytro Lubinets, the Commissioner for Human Rights, voiced the frustration we all feel as we wave our hands about in a mix of anger and disbelief: “Once again, a person dies in Russian captivity, whose stay was confirmed by the ICRC!”
“Why the young woman died while in Russian captivity is unknown,” lamented Lubinets, probably echoing our sentiments precisely.
In Conclusion: The Final Goodbye
On October 11, 2024, memorial events honoring Viktoria Roshchyna will take place, not just as a grim reminder of what she endured but to shine a light on the countless Ukrainian journalists who’ve suffered. As President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted, “Her death is a real blow” to many in the journalism community and beyond.
We are left wondering, how many more will have to face such horrors before we realize that the quest for truth sometimes takes us to the deadliest battlegrounds? Cheers, Viktoria. Your brave endeavor for justice will not be forgotten. Nor will it be tolerated that future generations need to endure such fates again.
Author of the photo, Victoria Roschyna/social networks
Photo caption Journalist Victoria Roshchyna is not the first civilian to die in Russian captivity without ever returning home
October 11, 2024
27-year-old Viktoria Roshchyna, a hromadske journalist and freelance writer for “Ukrainian Pravda” and other Ukrainian media, died in Russian captivity.
This was confirmed by the internal investigation of the Coordination Headquarters on the treatment of prisoners of war, official confirmation from the Russian side was also received by the office of the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights.
On October 10, the publication “Grata” wrote that the Ministry of Defense of Russia reported the death of 27-year-old Victoria Roshchyna on Thursday. This was in response to her father’s appeal dated August 28, 2024.
In a brief e-mail from the Russian Ministry of Defense, which is available to Grata, Roschyna’s father was told that his daughter had died on September 19, 2024. It was also reported that her body would be returned “to the Ukrainian side as part of the exchange of bodies of detainees.”
The cause of death was not specified.
Victoria was born on October 6, 1996 and did not live to her 28th birthday by a few weeks.
The journalist was supposed to be included in one of the upcoming prisoner exchanges, Andriy Yusov, the spokesman for the main intelligence agency, said in a comment to Suspilno.
“Her return was agreed and the last information that is known, she was staged (from Taganrog – Ed.) to Lefortovo (prison in Moscow – Ed.),” said Yusov.
This was one of the stages of preparation for returning to Ukraine.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t have time,” said Petro Yatsenko, a representative of the Coordination Headquarters, on the air of the telethon.
According to him, it is still too early to talk about the circumstances of Roschyna’s death, they are being established.
The second capture
For Victoria Roshchyna, this was already the second Russian captivity.
For the first time, according to the General Prosecutor’s Office, representatives of the FSB and the armed forces of the Russian Federation detained her in Berdyansk on March 15, 2022. At that time, the woman, on her own initiative, got to the surrounded Mariupol to write reports about the military operations in the east and south of Ukraine. She was moving in a special convoy, but she was stopped.
Later, pro-Russian media and Telegram channels shared a video in which Roschyna denies her claims against the Russian services that are holding her prisoner, and says that they allegedly saved her life. She was held in Berdyansk for 10 days, and was released from captivity on March 21.
Five days later, Victoria Roschyna published a text about how she survived her first captivity.
“They brought food, but I refused it. In the first days, I ate my small supplies, which I had brought with me from Zaporizhzhia. When they were gone, I drank sweet tea. I felt my strength leaving me. It was difficult to even stand on my feet.” – the journalist wrote in articles “A week in captivity of the occupiers. How I got out of the hands of the FSB, “Kadyrivets” and Dagestanis” for hromadske.
“During the FSB’s penultimate visit, I could hardly stand up. However, I constantly demanded to be released. When I screamed loudly, one of the Chechens hit me and said that I am not at home here and must watch my tone.”
The woman went missing for the second time on August 3, 2023 in the occupied territory of Ukraine.
That day her family spoke to her for the last time. The journalist reported that she passed several days of border checks, but did not say where she was.
photo copyrightTelegram
Caption for the photo. This is a frame from a video that appeared on the Internet immediately after the release of Viktoria Roshchyna from the first captivity. In it, she thanks Russia for saving her life – after liberation, the girl admitted that this was demanded of her
It is known that she set out on the road on July 27 – she planned to get from Ukraine to Poland, and from there through Russia to the occupied territories of Ukraine in the east. The journalist planned to write a new report from there.
Soon, the relatives filed a search warrant, and there was also an appeal to the ombudsman’s office.
Between the first and second captivity, Viktoriya Roschyna traveled to the occupied territories at least several times to write reports.
In May 2024, the Russian authorities for the first time admitted that the journalist had been detained and that she was in Russian territory. This was also confirmed by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
“Once again, a person dies in Russian captivity, whose stay in Russian prisons was confirmed by the ICRC! Why the young woman died while in Russian captivity is unknown,” commented Dmytro Lubinets, Commissioner for Human Rights.
The Prosecutor General’s Office, which opened a criminal investigation into the disappearance of Viktoria Roshchyna, is investigating her case as “a war crime combined with intentional murder” after the journalist’s death.
The main investigative department of the Security Service of Ukraine is responsible for the investigation.
In what conditions was Victoria kept in Taganrog
Tetyana Katrychenko from the Media Initiative for Human Rights toldthat Victoria Roshchyna was held in at least two places: correctional colony No. 77 in Berdyansk and SIZO No. 2 in the city of Taganrog, Rostov region. In these places, the Russians have been keeping both military and civilians, in particular, women, since the first months of the full-scale invasion.
“Taganrog is known as one of the most cruel places of detention for Ukrainians on the territory of the Russian Federation. It is called hell on earth. In particular, Azov citizens from Azovstal are kept in Taganrog,” Katrychenko writes on his Facebook page.
“The released people talk about terrible tortures. Everyone there, whom they want to turn into criminals, confesses to crimes – they make a statement about themselves. Then they are transferred to Rostov and tried.”
The BBC spoke with former prisoners who were in detention center No. 2 in Taganrog. According to them, physical and psychological violence, including beatings and torture with electric current, was systematic.
They said that the prisoners were kept hungry and denied adequate medical care, which led to the death of some of them.
There were reports that Victoria Roshchyna was on hunger strike, but it is not known for sure if this is true. Tetyana Katrychenko considers it “very doubtful”.
Russia did not allow outside organizations, including the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross, to visit this pre-trial detention center, where only Russian prisoners were held before the Great War.
According to Tetyana Katrychenko, Roschyna was kept in solitary confinement in Taganrog from at least May to September 2024. On September 13, the journalist was taken out of Taganrog, but it is not known for sure whether she was really transferred to Moscow in Lefertovo.
What Victoria Roschyna wrote about
In the author’s profile of Victoria Roschyna on the “Ukrainian Pravda” website, it is written that the woman has worked in journalism since she was 16 years old. She specialized in crime, human rights activities and the judicial system.
In addition to “Ukrainian Pravda” and hromadske, Roshchyna cooperated with “Ukrainian Radio”, UA:Pershiy and the publication “Censor.net”.
The editors who worked with Roshchyna say that she “took on the most difficult topics” and she “couldn’t be stopped.”
Before 2022, the journalist traveled to Moscow, to places where Ukrainian prisoners were held, and made a film about captured Ukrainian sailors.
After the start of a full-scale war, Victoria made materials about the life of the occupied territories.
She actively started contributing to UP in October 2022, when she returned from the occupied territories, where she prepared material about the referendums that the Russian side held in Mariupol and Berdyansk.
“Vika went there by herself, without any assignment from any Ukrainian editorial office, because she saw the need and necessity in this. The importance of not forgetting about our people in the occupation”, Sevgil Musaeva, the editor-in-chief of “Ukrainian Pravda”, recalls her cooperation with Roschyna.
“Nothing could stop Vika if an idea was born in her head. Nothing was more important to her than journalism,” Yevgenia Motorevska, the former editor-in-chief of hromadske, says about the deceased.
“She (after the start of the full-scale invasion. – Ed.) chose to be a freelancer, because no newsroom would send her to work in the occupied territories,” Nataliya Humenyuk, journalist and co-founder of “Public Television”, said in a BBC commentary.
Author of the photo, Natalya Humenyuk/social networks
image captionThe journalist had a special sense of injustice, say her former colleagues
“She had an unusual sense of injustice. It was difficult to restrain her from working, (forcing. – Ed.) to take some day off.”
Shortly after the disappearance, the editor-in-chief of “Ukrainian Pravda” Sevgil Musaeva stated that Victoria Roschyna, who disappeared in the occupied territories, did not have an editorial assignment from “UP”.
“She didn’t have an editorial task, but she asked what topics would be interesting to us in theory,” – said Musaev in a comment to “Media Detector”.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that for many Ukrainian journalists who knew Victoria, “her death is a real blow.”
“And many other journalists, public figures, leaders of communities from the occupied territory, even just ordinary people who were captured during the Russian occupation, remain in Russian captivity,” he added.
Victoria Roschyna was on the list of 30 Ukrainian journalists captured by Russia, published by the Institute of Mass Information.
On October 11 at 19:00 on the Independence Square in Kyiv, the Georgy Gongadze Award and hromadske will hold an event honoring the memory of Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roschyna.
The Institute of Mass Information has estimated that since the start of the full-scale invasion, 82 media workers have been killed, 34 injured, and 14 missing.
Since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in 2014, more than 100 Ukrainian journalists have been held hostage in Russia.
