Kyiv holds farewell for journalist tortured and killed in Russian captivity
A farewell ceremony was held in Kyiv on August 8 for Viktoriia Roshchyna, a Ukrainian journalist who died after being tortured in Russian captivity in late 2024. Her tragic death has become a powerful symbol of Russia’s systematic abuse of Ukrainian civilians and the grave dangers journalists face in occupied territories.
Roshchyna, 27, disappeared in August 2023 while reporting from Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine. Moscow acknowledged detaining her the following year. Her body was returned to Ukraine in February 2024, initially misidentified as an “unidentified man.” DNA testing later confirmed her identity. Ukrainian authorities officially confirmed her death on October 10, 2024, though investigations into the cause continue. Russia claims she died on September 19, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
A memorial service took place at St. Michael’s Cathedral, followed by a public farewell on Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti). She will be laid to rest in a Kyiv cemetery.
An independent media investigation revealed her body was returned missing several organs, raising suspicions that this was done to conceal evidence of suffocation.
One day before the ceremony, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office charged in absentia the head of Russia’s Detention Center No. 2 in Taganrog, Rostov Oblast, with organizing the torture and death of Roshchyna and other Ukrainian detainees.
According to prosecutors, Russian forces captured Roshchyna in occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast and transferred her to the Taganrog facility, where she endured systematic torture, denial of medical care and water, beatings, and psychological coercion to force cooperation.
The accused, whose name has not been made public, faces charges of inhumane treatment of civilians by a group acting in collusion. If convicted, he could face up to 12 years in prison.
Prosecutors stated that the suspect knowingly violated international law, including the Geneva Conventions, by targeting a civilian journalist protected under wartime legal norms.
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