The Power Within: The Kyiv Independent’s first-ever magazine. Be among the first to get it.

pre-order now
Skip to content
Edit post

Kyiv confirms death of Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna held in Russian captivity

by Nate Ostiller and The Kyiv Independent news desk October 10, 2024 7:06 PM 1 min read
A demonstrator holds a sign picturing Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna, who was being detained in Russian-occupied territory, for World Press Freedom Day 2024. (National Union of Journalists of Ukraine Press Service)
This audio is created with AI assistance

Viktoria Roshchyna, a Ukrainian journalist held captive by Russia, has died, said Petro Yatsenko, a spokesperson of Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, on national television on Oct. 10.

The circumstances of her death are still being confirmed, Yatsenko said.

Roshchyna disappeared in August 2023 while reporting in Russian-occupied territory. Her father received a letter from Russia's Defense Ministry in April of the following year confirming that she was being detained by Russian authorities.

Andrii Yusov, a spokesperson for Ukraine's military intelligence agency, told the Suspilne media outlet that Roshchyna was supposed to be included in an upcoming prisoner exchange.

Roshchyna had covered Russia's full-scale invasion for multiple Ukrainian news outlets, including Hromadske, Ukrainska Pravda, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).

In March 2022, Roshchyna was detained for 10 days by Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officers while leaving Berdiansk in the direction of Mariupol. As a condition of her release, she was forced to record a video saying Russian forces had saved her life.

War interrupts bizarre trial of top journalist assassination in Ukraine
Two years ago, a man and two women – a Ukrainian rock musician turned soldier, a military medic, and a female pediatric surgeon – faced potential conviction in one of Ukraine’s most high-profile assassination cases: the 2016 car bombing of journalist Pavel Sheremet. But in the wake of Russia’s full…

News Feed

6:54 PM

Mariupol defender appointed commander of Azov Brigade amid military reform.

Following the start of Russia's full-scale war in 2022, Hrishenkov defended Mariupol, where he was injured. After 86 days of defending the encircled city under heavy Russian bombardment, he and about 2,500 other fighters left the Azovstal steel plant after Ukrainian commanders ordered the defending garrison to lay down their arms.
6:21 PM

4 days of hunting Russian drones.

The Kyiv Independent contributor Ignatius Ivlev-Yorke spent four days following an air defense unit guarding the skies over a region in eastern Ukraine, seeing how they live, work, and save civilians from the dozens of Russian drones flying toward Ukrainian cities each night.
MORE NEWS

Editors' Picks

Enter your email to subscribe
Please, enter correct email address
Subscribe
* indicates required
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required

Subscribe

* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Explaining Ukraine with Kate Tsurkan
* indicates required
Successfuly subscribed
Thank you for signing up for this newsletter. We’ve sent you a confirmation email.