The mutilated remains of 28-year-old Ukrainian conflict reporter, Victoriia Roshchyna, were returned to her family after she went missing in 2023 during a reporting trip to investigate allegations of the torture of civilians in detention centres.
Forbidden Stories, a consortium of journalists who say their “mission is to pursue and publish the work of journalists threatened, imprisoned, or killed for their work” published a lengthy report on the story of the young woman who was held in a Russian camp from which reports of gruesome torture inflicted on inmates have emerged.
Despite the clear danger, Victoriia travelled to the occupied territories to investigate stories of ‘ghost detainees’ before becoming one herself.
The instance of detention that culminated in her death was not the first time the journalist had been deprived of her liberty by Russian authorities.
On March 5, 2022, Victoria reportedly came under fire from Russian artillery in the capital city of Zaporizhzhia. Only days later, she was arrested by FSB agents on her way from Enerhodar to Mariupol.
During a period of detention that lasted 10 days she was reportedly “forced” to record a video message in which she stated that the occupying forces who had taken her captive had in fact saved her life.
After her release colleagues begged her to relax her approach to conflict reporting, but to no avail, as she vowed to keep doing her fearless style of on the ground reporting, compiling work without commission and sending the finished product out for willing news outlets to publish.
On a work expedition in August 2023 through the Zaporizhzhia region, her phone suddenly went out of range. Her whereabouts remained unknown for months.
Inmates of Tararog prison camp where she was held said that Vika – as her friends and colleagues called her – had been feisty even in custody and had accused camp guards of being “murderers”.
In May 2024 Russian authorities acknowledged that Roshchyna was being held
Her release had been arranged through high level talks between authorities from the warring nations, although she was not present among a prisoner exchange when her family were expecting to be reunited with their daughter.
Her death was acknowledged in October 2024.
Late last February, when examining a delivery of bodies, forensic investigators at a morgue in Vinnytsia, Ukraine, discovered a bag containing human remains with the inscription “NM SPAS 757”: “Unnamed Male, Extensive Damage to the Coronary Arteries, [Body Number] 757.”
The remains of Vika appear to have been mislabeled due to their poor condition, however on closer inspection, investigators discovered a small tag with “Roshchyna, V.V.” inscribed on it.
Although her family reportedly did not accept the results of an examination conducted in their home country, a DNA analysis matched the remains to Vika’s close relations with a certainty of 99.999%.
The remains showed signs of an autopsy having been performed before they were returned to Ukraine.
“The forensic examination revealed numerous signs of torture and ill-treatment on the victim’s body, including abrasions and haemorrhages on various parts of the body, a broken rib, neck injuries, and possible electric shock marks on her feet,” Yuriy Belousov, the head of the War Crimes Unit at the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s office, wrote.
Ukrainian authorities claim that Roshchyna was among 16,000 Ukrainian civilians held captive by Russia.