Ukraine: MFRR and partners mourn death and demand justice for Victoria Roshchyna

The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) and partner organizations today mourn the death of Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna, who died in unclear circumstances while in Russian detention, and whose death was confirmed by Russian  and Ukrainian  authorities on Thursday. We welcome the opening of an investigation  by Ukrainian authorities on grounds of “war crime combined with premeditated murder ” and demand that Russian authorities do the same to elucidate the circumstances of Roshchyna’s death and bring to justice all those who could be responsible.

Roshchyna, a freelance journalist with Ukrainska Pravda, a major Ukrainian publication, and several other leading Ukrainian outlets, left Kyiv in late July 2023 with the intention to reach Russian-occupied territory  in southeastern Ukraine. Soon after her departure, she went missing, with many of her colleagues expressing their fear that she was most likely being held by Russian forces.

In May 2024, nearly a year after her departure, Roshchyna’s family reported that Russian authorities had confirmed  to them that the journalist was being held in Russian custody. However, the charges against her, as well as the place of her detention remained unknown.

Following the announcement of her death, reports emerged  suggesting that Roshchyna had spent the past four months in an individual prison cell in the Russian city of Taganrog, which is located immediately next to the Ukrainian border. Prior to this, it has been reported that she was held in pre-trial detention by Russian forces in Berdyansk, a city in southeastern Ukraine currently under Russian occupation.

According to Russian authorities, Roshchyna died on September 19 . Unconfirmed reports by Ukrainian media suggest  that she passed away while being transported from Taganrog to Moscow. According to the same reports, Russia was preparing to include Roshchyna into a prisoner exchange with Ukraine.

While it is unclear what location the journalist managed to reach as part of the reporting trip she began in late July 2023, it was known that she planned to report from regions of Ukraine under Russian occupation.

“Victoria was herself from the Zaporizhia region,” Ukrainska Pravda editor-in-chief Sevgil Musayeva told IPI  in October 2023, when Roshchyna’s disappearance was first made public. “She saw it as her mission to tell the stories of the people under occupation and when fears grew that the Russian military may be planning to blow up the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, she wanted to go.”

Roshchyna was one of the very few Ukrainian journalists to travel to Russian-occupied territories to cover  the impact of the war. In March 2022, she was taken captive  by Russian forces while reporting near Mariupol, when the city was under a prolonged siege by Russian forces. She was released  ten days later and continued working as a journalist from Kyiv. She documented her experiences in captivity here .

MFRR partners, Index on Censorship and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reiterate their support of journalists who continue to report on Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. We mourn the death of yet another journalist who lost her life while attempting to cover the consequences of this brutal invasion and demand justice for her and other deceased colleagues. 

Signed:

International Press Institute (IPI)

European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)

Index on Censorship

Reporters Without Borders (RSF)

ARTICLE 19 Europe

OBC Transeuropa (OBCT)

International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF)

Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

Free Press Unlimited (FPU)

This statement was produced as part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a Europe-wide mechanism which tracks, monitors, and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and candidate countries.