Ukrainian journalist dies in Russian custody, according to kyiv

A Ukrainian journalist, Victoria Rochtchina, detained by Russian forces in the occupied territories of Ukraine in 2023, has died in Russian custodya Ukrainian official announced this Thursday.

Rochtchina, a freelance journalist who collaborated with the Ukrainian media outlets Ukraïnska Pravda and Hromadske, disappeared in August 2023 when was trying to reach the territories occupied by Russia in the Zaporizhzhia region of southern Ukraine, Ukrainian media reported.

Nine months later, the Union of Ukrainian Journalists announced that his father, Volodimir, had received confirmation from Russian authorities that Victoria Rochtchina was “detained on the territory of the Russian Federation.”

“Unfortunately, the information about Victoria’s death has been confirmed,” Petro Iatsenko, spokesman for the Ukrainian center for prisoners of war, told television this Thursday. “It is too early to talk about the circumstances of death“We are working to establish them,” he added.

According to the independent Russian media Mediazona, Rochtchina died during a transfer from a prison in Taganrog, in southwestern Russia, to Moscow. Without confirming this information, Yatsenko stated that “the fact that she was transferred from Taganrog to Moscow was a step to prepare his liberation”adding that “some 25 Ukrainian journalists are currently in captivity in Russia” and others are believed to be missing.