Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchina dies during Russia prisoner exchange

“CPJ is shocked by the news of Viktoria Roshchina’s death during her unlawful imprisonment by Russia. We extend our deep condolences to her family and loved ones,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Responsibility for her death lies with the Russian authorities, who detained her for daring to report the truth on the Russia-Ukraine war. Ukrainian and Russian authorities must do everything in their power to investigate Roshchina’s death.”

Roshchina’s death was confirmed on Thursday by Petro Yatsenko, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian government’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War and Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, head of Ukraine’s parliamentary committee on freedom of speech.

The journalist reportedly died on September 19 while being transferred from southwestern city of Taganrog to Moscow, the capital, for a prisoner exchange. Russian authorities officially notified Roshchina’s father about her death, Yurchyshyn said.

Roshchina was a freelance reporter who covered the war in Ukraine for several Ukrainian media outlets, went missing on August 3, 2023, when reporting on eastern Ukraine; her detention was confirmed by Russia in April 2024.

At least 15 journalists and one media worker have been killed covering the war since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February 2022, according to CPJ research. Multiple Ukrainian journalists have been detained in the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine.

Russia was the world’s fourth-worst jailer of journalists in CPJ’s 2023 prison census, with at least 22 journalists, including Roshchina, behind bars as of December 1.

CPJ’s emails to the Russian Ministry of Defense and Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War about Roshchina did not receive an immediate response.