Viktoriia Roshchyna
Credit: X/@U24_gov_ua
Many horrors have unfurled since Russian troops began military action against Ukraine. One that has emerged now is the treatment of Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna.
During an exchange when remains of 757 Ukrainian military personnel were returned, Red Cross officials noticed that body number 757 was marked as unidentified male, and the cause of death was listed as heart failure.
However, forensic experts unearthed weeks later that the corpse belonged to one Viktoriia Roshchyna -- the Ukrainian journalist who went missing in July 2023.
A report by The Guardian has outlined chilling details of the torture she went through.
This includes her brain being removed, bones broken, being electrocuted, drugged, and starved, while in Russian captivity.
The publication also reported that Roshchyna was among Ukraine's fearless civilian reporters and had ventured deep into occupied territories during the war. She would normally document crimes the Russian state wanted hidden, and her final journey was undertaken to find out secret detention sites and how civilians were tortured.
Unfortunately, she became a victim herself.
She was reportedly first detained in Enerhodar after allegedly being spotted by a drone. A brief holding at a police station was followed by a move to the FSB (Russian security service) controlled torture site known as 'the garages'.
Reportedly, she was subjected to shocks, a knife was taken to her, and her captors -- despite repeated requests -- reopened an old wound.
She was then moved to a pre-trial detention facility in Russia, where people recall her arriving drugged and disoriented.
As per the publication, her hair was shaved, ribs broken, and there were abrasions on her body.
One witness said she stopped eating. SIZO-2 in Taganrog Russia is reportedly infamous for electrocutions, water boarding, and forcing prisoners into stress positions for prolonged periods. Food is rationed to four-and-a-half spoonfuls per plate here.
Reportedly there were signs of asphyxiation, and authorities have said the mutilation suggests attempts to hide the extent of neurological and asphyxiation injuries.
Roshchyna reported on the siege of Maruipol and received the International Women's Media Foundation's 2022 Courage in Journalism Award.
Born in October 6, 1996, Roshchyna had one sister, and her hometown was Zaporizhzhia.
She began working as a journalist when she was a teenager, starting with covering court cases and crime. She moved to covering life under Russian occupation, after the invasion in 2022. She has worked as a freelance journalist for Ukrainska Pravda, Radio Free Europe, and Hromadske.
Russians detained Roshchyna in March 2022, but she escaped, hiding in a basement overnight. In early March 2022, Russian tanks fired on her car, as per reports. Though she and her driver escaped, her computer and camera were stolen. She was then detained by the FSB for 10 days and let go when she made a video stating Russian forces saved her life.
Sevhil Musaieva, her editor at Ukrainska Pravda was quoted saying, "She died trying to expose exactly what happened to her. Viktoriia had no personal life. Her entire world was her mission."