The murder of Viktoriia Roshchyna shows: The Kremlin is losing control over its torturers
On August 8, 2025, people in Kyiv bid farewell to Viktoriia Roshchyna, a 27-year-old journalist tortured to death while in Russian captivity. Her killing shocked the international community and became another stark reminder of Russia’s brutality and lawlessness. Frontliner publishes a photo report from the farewell ceremony and examines what Roshchyna’s murder reveals about Russia’s conduct.
Dozens gathered on St. Michael’s Square in the center of the capital to pay their last respects to Roshchyna.
Today, Viktoria’s colleagues live with one haunting thought: could we have saved her? Could we have freed her from Russian captivity? If we are asking ourselves these questions, then we must also remember the Ukrainian journalists who are still imprisoned in Russia. My only plea during this farewell is: save the journalists from captivity.
The procession then moved toward Independence Square. Viktoriia Roshchyna was laid to rest at Baikove Cemetery.
Justice
Ukrainian law enforcement has classified the torture of Viktoriia Roshchyna as a war crime combined with premeditated murder. The investigation is ongoing at the national level, with French forensic experts also involved in the examination.
On the eve of Roshchyna’s funeral, Ukrainian authorities formally charged Alexander Shtoda, the former head of Detention Center No. 2 in Taganrog, in absentia. He is accused of organizing the journalist’s torture. Evidence of abuse includes a broken rib, multiple burns from electric shocks, and hemorrhaging. Roshchyna was reportedly hidden from view during visits by representatives of the Russian human rights ombudswoman.
The exact cause of Viktoriia’s death remains undetermined. During the autopsy, Russian officials removed her brain, eyeballs, and part of her trachea, a move experts believe may have been an attempt to cover up the circumstances of her murder.
The atmosphere of hatred and impunity for Russian sadists, deliberately cultivated in the Russian Federation, has triggered a cumulative effect, where the conveyor belt of death has spun out of the government’s control. This is one of the clearest signs of the regime’s weakness and poor governance, no matter what they claim.
Roshchyna’s killing sparked international outrage and dealt a major reputational blow to the Kremlin. Human rights advocates say the crime points to a growing loss of control by Russian authorities over their own enforcers.
Human rights defenders are calling for sanctions against Russian perpetrators responsible for killing and torturing Ukrainians, as well as international investigations under the principle of universal jurisdiction. One early result of these efforts is the decision to launch the OSCE’s Moscow Mechanism, aimed at preparing a special report on torture in Russian captivity. The initiative was backed by more than 40 OSCE member states.
In memory of Viktoriia Roshchyna
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.
In March 2022, she set out for the besieged city of Mariupol. At the first Russian checkpoint, she openly identified herself as a journalist. Russian troops detained her illegally. Thanks to public outcry, she was released from captivity after seven days.
After her release, Roshchyna continued reporting from temporarily occupied territories as a freelancer. Her dispatches shed light on conditions in Mariupol, Volnovakha, Vasylivka, and Enerhodar. Her readers saw powerful and courageous images: heavily armed Russian soldiers staring directly into the camera, armored vehicles marked with the “Z” symbol rolling past familiar Ukrainian cityscapes.
To produce such stories, Viktoriia took tremendous personal risks. She likely believed her role as a reporter would offer some protection. After her first captivity, she wrote: “The fact that I was a journalist held them back.”
Circumstances of Viktoriia Roshchyna’s disappearance
In July 2023, Viktoriia Roshchyna set out on a reporting assignment to southern Ukraine, one that would tragically become her last. Not long afterward, she was detained by Russian forces, likely near the city of Enerhodar.
From August 2023 until May 2024, her whereabouts remained unknown. Eventually, Russian authorities confirmed in a letter to her father that they were holding Viktoriia in custody. Initially, she was imprisoned in a penal colony in Berdyansk. Later, she was transferred to Detention Center No. 2 in Taganrog, a facility notorious for its especially cruel treatment of Ukrainian detainees.
On August 7, 2025, Ukrainian law enforcement confirmed that a repressive system targeting Ukrainian citizens had been established inside Taganrog’s detention center.
Shortly before her death, Viktoriia was transferred to Moscow. According to representatives of Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters, this may have indicated preparations for a potential prisoner exchange.
Murder and body identification
In response to an inquiry to Russia’s Ministry of Defense, Viktoriia Roshchyna’s father received an official letter stating: “Roshchyna V.V. died on September 19, 2024.” The Russian side promised to return her body as part of a prisoner exchange.
That handover did not occur until February 14, 2025, when Russia transferred 757 bodies to Ukraine, most of them fallen Ukrainian soldiers. One of the bodies arrived in a medical bag labeled by hand with “SPAS 757,” a Russian acronym denoting “unidentified male with signs of arterial heart damage.”
During a forensic examination, a tag marked “Roshchyna V.V.” was discovered on the body. In May 2025, DNA testing confirmed the remains belonged to Viktoriia.
Photos: Danylo Dubchak, Andriy Dubchak
Text: Diana Deliurman
