Hasn’t been in touch since August 3: Ukrainian journalist captured by the occupiers
Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna went missing during a trip to the occupied territories.
This was reported by The Daily Beast.
Her relatives and friends have not been able to contact her since August 3. It was then that the girl went to the Russian-occupied territory.
The journalist’s family is worried that she is being held by the Russians.
– “For my daughter, journalism is the most important thing in her life, she is very dedicated to her profession. After her first captivity, I asked her to stop, saying: “Vika, I’ll pay your salary, but please don’t go to the front,” but she was firm, relentless – she couldn’t stop covering the news of this war from the occupied territories for her readers,” said her father, Volodymyr Roshchyn.
According to him, on July 27, Roshchyna left Ukraine for Poland and was supposed to reach the occupied territories in eastern Ukraine in three days (via Russia – Ed.). When her family spoke to her on August 3, the journalist said that she had passed several days of border checks, but did not say where she was. She was first reported missing to Ukrainian law enforcement agencies on August 12. The family also registered an official case of disappearance with the SBU, the Ministry of Reintegration and the Ombudsman’s Office on September 21.
– The Ukrainian Security Service confirmed to us that Victoria was taken prisoner by Russians. Officials tell us that there are many ‘frozen’ Ukrainian prisoners in Russian prisons, including her,” Roschin said.
Russian activist Svetlana Gannushkina (one of the founders of the human rights organization Memorial) reports that she has filed a request for Roshchina’s whereabouts with the office of the Russian human rights ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova.
– Unfortunately, I have not received a response yet. It may take more than a month to get a response, there are many requests,” she said.
The editor-in-chief of UP, where Roshchyna published her materials, called on the Ukrainian authorities to do everything possible to find the journalist.
– “She (Roshchyna – Ed.) is a brave journalist, she takes it upon herself to cover the most controversial topics that require courage. She is not a spy, she is a real journalist, she cares about the fate of people who remained in the occupied territories. It is important for her to tell their stories. I call on the Ukrainian authorities to do everything to find her, and on the Russian authorities to immediately release journalist Viktoria Roshchina,” Musayeva said.
As a reminder, the journalist was already captured by the occupiers in March 2022, but she was released. And in November 2022, Victoria Roshchyna was shortlisted for the Courage in Journalism Awards.
The journalist published material about the life of the temporarily occupied Enerhodar.
Photo: Victoria Roshchyna