Russian authorities have returned the body of a Ukrainian journalist who died under unclear circumstances while in Russian custody last fall, Ukraine’s Deputy Interior Minister Leonid Tymchenko said Thursday.
Victoria Roshchyna, 27, disappeared in August 2023 while reporting in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine. Her whereabouts remained unknown until Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed in April 2024 that she had been arrested.
Ukraine’s Prisoners of War Coordination Headquarters announced her death in October, citing a message from Russia’s Defense Ministry to her father indicating she died on Sept. 19.
“Her body was returned as part of the recent repatriation at the end of February this year. Her remains were identified through DNA testing,” Tymchenko told the Ukrainian news outlet Censor.net.
On Feb. 14, Russia and Ukraine exchanged the bodies of 45 Russian soldiers for the remains of 757 Ukrainian servicemen. It was not immediately clear whether Roshchyna was among those returned in that exchange.
Tymchenko said Russia did not provide a cause of death and generally does not disclose such information when returning the bodies of deceased Ukrainian soldiers or civilians.
Roshchyna was a freelance journalist who reported for independent outlets including Ukrainska Pravda and the Ukrainian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).
In 2022, she received the Courage in Journalism award from the International Women’s Media Foundation for her frontline reporting from eastern Ukraine.
She was previously arrested in March 2022 in the Russian-occupied port city of Berdyansk and held there for 10 days.
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