Russia did not hand over the body of Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roschyna, who died in Russian captivity, during the exchange that took place on October 18. This was reported by Petro Yatsenko, a representative of the Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, in a comment for hromadske.
According to him, negotiations with the Russian side regarding the return of Viktoria Roshchina’s body are currently ongoing. It was planned to be included in the exchange, but this did not happen.
As part of the exchange, on October 18, Ukraine returned the bodies of 501 fallen defenders, but the body of the journalist remains in the territory controlled by Russia.
On August 3, 2023, it became known that Victoria Roschyna disappeared in the temporarily occupied territories. It was only in May 2024 that the Russian authorities officially confirmed for the first time that she was in captivity. This was not the first time the journalist was detained: in March 2022, the Russians also kidnapped her, but she was released 10 days later.
The news of Victoria’s death was received on October 10. Her father, Volodymyr Roschyna, received the information from Russian officials. The Ukrainian side later confirmed this fact. According to the Media Initiative for Human Rights, Victoria was held in at least two places: correctional colony No. 77 in Berdyansk and pretrial detention center No. 2 in Taganrog. The latter is known as one of the cruelest places for holding Ukrainian prisoners on the territory of Russia.
