‘She couldn’t walk on her own’ Documentary reveals torture Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna suffered before her death in Russian captivity
According to Russia’s Defense Ministry, Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna died in Russian captivity more than five months ago. But Russia still hasn’t returned her body to Ukraine. Now, a new documentary has revealed the brutal torture and inhumane conditions Roshchyna endured during her last months. The film, titled “Vika’s Last Assignment,” premiered in Kyiv this week. It was produced by journalists from Ukrainian media outlets Slidstvo.Info, Graty, and Suspilne, along with members of Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The investigation uncovered new details about Roshchyna’s capture in Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia and the ill-treatment she suffered at a detention center in the Russian city of Taganrog, where she was held until her presumed death. The circumstances of Roshchyna’s death remain so unclear that Ukrainian investigators aren’t ruling out the possibility that she may still be alive.
Viktoria Roshchyna was captured by Russian forces in August 2023 in the Ukrainian city of Enerhodar, which Moscow seized early in its full-scale invasion. She had traveled to the occupied Zaporizhzhia region as a freelance reporter for Ukrainska Pravda. According to people she spoke to before her capture, she planning to report on prisoners at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Russia’s sham “elections” in the occupied territories, and the aftermath of the Kakhovka dam’s destruction.
To reach the occupied areas, Roshchyna first traveled from Ukraine to Europe. Ukrainian investigators reported that on July 25, 2023, she crossed the border into Poland and then continued on to Latvia, entering Russia on July 26. In early August, Roshchyna called her sister, saying she was in Russia, had spent several days undergoing Russian security checks, and didn’t feel safe, according to Graty.
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From a police station to a ‘garage’
The exact date of Roshchyna’s detention is still unknown. The International Women’s Media Foundation reported that Roshchyna went missing in occupied territory on August 3, and Ukrainian law enforcement received a report of her disappearance on August 12. However, one of Roshchyna’s contacts told Graty that he met with her in Berdyansk on August 22. He said she was planning to travel to Melitopol but intended to return and meet with him again. On August 27, she messaged him to cancel their meeting — and that was the last time he heard from her.
After her detention, Roshchyna was reportedly held at a police station in northern Enerhodar, near the exit to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, according to Slidstvo.Info. Reporters Without Borders, citing an eyewitness, wrote that Roshchyna had been “seen by a drone.” The Russian authorities never disclosed any charges against her.
From Enerhodar, Roshchyna was transferred to Melitopol, where she was held for several months. According to Iryna Didenko, who heads the team handling Roshchyna’s case in the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office, the journalist was “held in the so-called garages.” Earlier, RIA Melitopol had reported that Russian forces were holding Ukrainian prisoners in garages on the grounds of various administrative buildings in the city.
Hunger and mistreatment
In December 2023, Roshchyna was transferred from the “garages” in Melitopol to a pre-trial detention center in the Russian city of Taganrog. A Ukrainian woman who shared a cell with Roshchyna told Slidstvo.Info that the journalist had been kept in a basement in Melitopol and tortured during interrogations. “I saw several scars on her body — definitely on her arm and leg,” she recalled. “She had a knife wound, a fresh scar. It was between her wrist and elbow, about three centimeters long.”
The woman also said Roshchyna had been tortured with electric shocks. “I know it happened more than once. She didn’t say how many times exactly, but she told me she’d been covered in bruises,” she said, adding that the wires had been attached to Roshchyna’s ears.
“This treatment was absolutely brutal and deadly for her. She struggled through the first days — you could see it. She kept demanding to see investigators, staff, and the prison authorities. She wanted to explain that there was no legal case for her detention. She was desperate to reach them, to find out why she’d been brought there,” Roshchyna’s former cellmate said.
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During an inspection of the Taganrog prison carried out by representatives of Russia’s Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova in March 2024, prison guards removed Roshchyna from her cell and hid her in a locked room on another floor.
As Roshchyna’s health deteriorated, she began having frequent panic attacks, and was denied access to medication, according to Reporters Without Borders. Over time, she stopped eating altogether. Prison guards reportedly threatened Roshchyna and even attempted to force-feed her. Roshchyna’s cellmate recalled the prison warden visiting their cell to speak with the journalist, who repeatedly demanded to be released, exchanged, or deported.
“She kept asking for help. At first, she complained of stomach problems, missing her periods the entire time, and having a persistent fever. Then the women noticed she was losing a lot of weight. Vika’s weight dropped to just 30 kilograms [66 pounds]. I helped her stand up because she was so weak she couldn’t even lift her head from the pillow. I would lift her head first, and then she would grab the bed’s handle to pull herself up,” the cellmate said.
According to her cellmate, Roshchyna was hospitalized at the end of June. “When they took her away, they carried her out on a stretcher because she couldn’t walk on her own,” she said. Another person interviewed by Reporters Without Borders said that the prisoners believed Roshchyna had died at that point.
However, two or three weeks later, Roshchyna was brought back to the detention center and placed in a separate cell. She appeared to have recovered somewhat, as she was able to walk unaided and respond to the guards’ words.
Disappearance
In late August, Victoria Roshchyna was allowed to call her father, Volodymyr Roshchyn, according to Slidstvo.Info. “During the call, both Victoria and her parents confirmed that there were discussions about a possible prisoner exchange. However, no one knew when it would happen — neither Victoria nor her parents had any information about the date or time,” said Yevhenia Kapalkina, the lawyer representing Victoria’s father.
The last time the other Ukrainian women in the Taganrog prison saw Roshchyna was on September 8, when she was taken from her cell to an unknown location.
Sevgil Musayeva, editor-in-chief of Ukrainska Pravda, reported that her sources said Roshchyna might be returned to Ukraine on September 13 or 14. Prisoner exchanges between Russia and Ukraine did take place on both those days, but Roshchyna was not returned.
On October 2, 2024, Roshchyna’s father received a letter from Russia’s Defense Ministry signed by “V. Kokh,” which presumably referred to Major General Vitaly Kokh, the deputy head of the ministry’s Main Military Police Directorate. The letter stated that Victoria Roshchyna had died on September 19, though it provided no evidence, and said that her body “would be handed over to the Ukrainian side as part of an exchange of deceased detainees.” As of March 2025, Russia still hasn't handed Roshchyna’s body over to Ukraine.
Iryna Didenko, who heads the investigative team handling Roshchyna’s case, said it’s still unclear whether the letter from the Russian Defense Ministry represents Moscow’s official position, given that Kyiv has suspended diplomatic relations with Russia. “The investigation is considering both the possibility that Viktoria is still alive and the possibility that she has died,” Didenko said. “We are looking into all possible scenarios, including torture, mistreatment, denial of medical care, psychological pressure, death due to poor detention conditions, and so on.”
Bohdan Okhrimenko, the head of Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, said that Russia has repeatedly ignored requests to return Roshchyna’s body for burial. “We are continuing efforts to bring Victoria’s body back. We’re trying to persuade the other side to hand it over. Only then will we be able to speak with certainty — for now, we can only speculate,” Okhrimenko said.
The Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner’s Office has also asked Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova to confirm or deny the reports of Roshchyna’s death, but she has not responded.
Volodymyr Roshchyn said that he’s reached out to various Russian authorities but has been given the runaround repeatedly. In December 2024, he received a response from the head of the Taganrog detention center, Alexander Shtoda, claiming that the prison’s official records indicate that Viktoria Roshchyna was never held there.
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