In photos: Kyiv mourns journalist tortured to death in Russian captivity

Hundreds gathered this morning in St. Michael’s Square to farewell 27-year-old journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, whose death in Russian detention has been classified as a war crime.

Roshchyna disappeared in July 2023 while reporting in occupied southern Ukraine. She was later confirmed to have been held in Berdyansk and at Taganrog’s Detention Center No. 2, known for especially cruel treatment, before being moved to Moscow. Russian authorities claimed she died in September 2024, but her body was only returned in February 2025 during a prisoner exchange. Forensic experts found broken ribs, burns from electric shocks, severe internal injuries, and that her brain, eyeballs, and part of her trachea had been removed, which doctors believe was likely done to hide the cause of her death.

Ukrainian investigators, with help from French experts, have charged a Russian prison official in absentia. Human rights groups say her killing shows the Kremlin is losing control over its own torturers.

Viktoriia Roshchyna was a journalist who never shied away from difficult or dangerous stories, covering crime, corruption, and court proceedings. With the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, her focus shifted to the lives of Ukrainians living under temporary occupation.

“If we are asking ourselves whether we could have saved her, then we must also remember the Ukrainian journalists still imprisoned in Russia. My only plea during this farewell is: save the journalists from captivity.”
Nataliya Gumenyuk, journalist and colleague, said during the ceremony.

Frontliner’s full photo report from the farewell ceremony, along with the investigation into her murder, is here.

Photos by Danylo Dubchak, Andriy Dubchak