An award-winning Ukrainian journalist who wrote first-hand accounts of life in Russian-occupied Ukraine has died while detained in Russia.
Victoria Roshchyna, who was 27, was self-employed for Ukrainian media outlets Ukrainska Pravda and Hromadske Radio, as well as the US-funded Radio Liberty.
He disappeared in August last year after traveling to Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine on a reporting trip.
Russia's Defense Ministry acknowledged in a letter to her father in May that she was in Russian custody.
“Unfortunately, the information about Victoria's death has been confirmed,” Petro Yatsenko, spokesman for the Ukrainian prisoner of war coordination headquarters, told Ukrainian television.
He said investigations into how he died were continuing.
Media rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in a statement that Russia informed Roshchyna's family on Thursday that she had died on September 19.
“The Russian authorities have never provided any information about his detention, despite repeated requests from his family, the Ukrainian authorities and RSF,” Jeanne Cavalier, head of RSF's office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said in a statement. . “They must shed light on all the circumstances surrounding his arrest and death.”
Horrible and tragic news: Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna, kidnapped in the occupied territories of Ukraine, has died in a Russian prison. It happened on September 19, but his father only received the news today. He was on hunger strike for many days, many… wH6">pic.twitter.com/FHXc5rii2m
— Anastasia Magazova 🌻 (@a_magazova) dGR">October 10, 2024
Roshchyna wrote vivid accounts of life in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, as well as areas of eastern Ukraine seized by Russian-funded separatists.
It also documented the nearly three-month defense of the port of Mariupol after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
She was initially detained by the Russians for 10 days, shortly after the country embarked on war.
A spokesman for Ukraine's HUR Intelligence Directorate, Andriy Yusov, told public broadcaster Suspilne that Roshchyna had been on a proposed prisoner exchange and was due to be transferred to Moscow from her detention in Taganrog, near the border with Ukraine.
Ukraine said in May that more than two dozen Ukrainian media workers were being held in Russian captivity and that negotiations were underway for their return.
RSF said Roshchyna was the 13th journalist to die as a result of his work since the Russian invasion.
pPm">Source link