Missing Organs and 'Numerous Signs of Torture': Body of Ukrainian Journalist Who Died in Russian Captivity Raises Questions
Roshchyna went missing in August 2023 while on assignment interviewing residents in a Russian-held part of Ukraine for the online media outlet Ukrainska Pravda. She was detained by Russian forces and deported to Russia, though the country did not admit to holding her captive until nine months after her father first reported her missing.
She was dead by September 2024, but Russia did not notify her family until a month later.
Her remains were returned as part of a body exchange between the nations in February 2025. They were initially labeled as 'an unidentified male,' though multiple DNA analyses later confirmed Roshchyna's identity. She was 27 years old.
Related: Dozens of World Leaders Rush to Ukraine's Defense After Peace Talks with Trump Crumble: 'You'll Never Walk Alone'
Yuriy Belousov, head of the war crimes department at the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office, said that forensic examination of Roshchyna's body found 'numerous signs of torture and ill-treatment… including abrasions and hemorrhages on various parts of the body, a broken rib and possible traces of electric shock.'
According to Belousov, it was determined that the injuries were sustained while Roshchyna was still alive.
Her fellow journalists at Ukrainska Pravda also said her body was missing organs, including her brain, eyeballs and part of her trachea. They speculated that her captors may have removed the organs in order to obscure her cause of death.
As of now, the state of Roshchyna's body has made it too difficult to determine how she died, but Belousov said Ukraine is enlisting the help of international forensic experts.
Related: Trump Escalates Feud with Zelenskyy over Ukrainian President's Latest Remark: 'Worst Statement That Could've Been Made'
Roshchyna's friends and colleagues paid tribute to her with a commemoration ceremony in Kyiv on Oct. 11, 2024.
Evgeniya Motorevskaya, who worked with Roshchyna at the Ukrainian media outlet Hromadske, praised her late friend's tenacity and courage.
'For her, there was nothing more important than journalism. Vika was always where the most important events for the country took place. And she would have continued to do this for many years, but the Russians killed her,' she wrote in a statement published on Hromadske's website.
Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer.
In May 2024, CNN documented reports on Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officers' alleged use of electrocution and sexual violence to torture detained Ukrainians.
'They were obviously having fun when spinning the dynamo, asking me, 'Do you want to call Zelenskyy?' ' said civilian volunteer Oleksii Sivak, recounting his arrest and torture at the hands of the FSB.
Of the direct current generator used to electrocute him during torture sessions, Sivak recalled, "They called it 'the lie detector.' "
Read the original article on People
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
26 minutes ago
Russia hits Ukraine with 'massive' drone, missile attack, Kyiv says
LONDON -- Russia launched 614 air attack munitions into Ukraine overnight into Thursday, the air force in Kyiv reported, in what the country's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called a "massive combined air strike" on targets around the country. The air force said Russia launched 574 drones and 40 missiles in its overnight barrage, of which 546 drones and 31 missiles were intercepted or otherwise suppressed. Impacts were reported across 11 locations, the air force said. "Contrary to all efforts to end the war, Russia undertook a massive combined air strike on Ukraine overnight," Sybiha said in a post to X, saying that "civilian and energy infrastructure" were among the targets. "One of the missiles struck a major American electronics manufacturer in our westernmost region, leading to serious damage and casualties," the foreign minister added of the attack in Mukachevo, a city around 16 miles from the border with Hungary and and 25 miles from the border with Slovakia. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the choice of the target was "very telling." "It was an ordinary civilian enterprise, an American investment," the president wrote on Telegram. "They produced such familiar household items as coffee machines. And this is also a target for the Russians." "It seems like there is no effort from the world to stop this war," Zelenskyy added. "A response is needed to this. There is still no signal from Moscow that they are really going to go into meaningful negotiations and end this war. Pressure is needed. Strong sanctions, strong tariffs." Ukraine's National Police said on social media that at least 15 people were injured in the Mukachevo attack. Sybiha said the site was "a fully civilian facility that has nothing to do with defense or the military." "This is not the first Russian attack on American businesses in Ukraine, after strikes on Boeing offices in Kyiv earlier this year and other attacks," Sybiha said. In the western city of Lviv, around 40 miles east of the Polish border, at least one person was killed and three people injured by Russian strikes, Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said on Telegram. Russia's latest attack was its largest since July 12, according to data published by Ukraine's air force and analyzed by ABC News, and breaks with the trend so far in August of smaller-scale nightly barrages when compared to figures from June and July. Wednesday night's attack was only the fourth of the war to date in which the number of Russian drones launched exceeded 500, according to the Ukrainian air force's data. The strikes again prompted the scrambling of NATO aircraft in Poland. Swedish Air Force JAS 39 Gripen fighters were among the resources deployed, Poland's Operational Command wrote in a post to X. "In connection with the activity of long-range aviation of the Russian Federation, conducting strikes on Ukrainian territory -- including with the use of hypersonic missiles -- aircraft of the Polish Air Force and allied aviation are operating in Polish airspace," the command wrote. Around three hours later, the command reported a "reduction in the level of threat" and a return to "standard operational activities." Russia's Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces downed at least 71 Ukrainian drones overnight into Thursday. Voronezh region Gov. Aleksandr Gusev reported on Telegram that an energy facility was damaged by a falling drone and that the attacks caused delays to rail services in the region. The state-run Tass news agency cited Russia's atomic energy agency, Rosenergoatom, as reporting that one unit at the Novovoronezh Nuclear Power Plant was temporarily disconnected from the grid. In Rostov region, Gov. Yuri Slyusar said a fire broke out at an industrial enterprise after a drone attack. "So far, no one has been injured. Emergency services are on the scene," Slyusar wrote.
Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
The Ukrainian air force says Russia has launched one of its biggest drone and missile attacks this year at Ukraine
People take shelter at a metro station during Russian air attacks in Kyiv on Aug. 21 amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian air force said. ROMAN PILIPEY/AFP via Getty Images
Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
Everyone wins in Trump-Wu clash — except immigrants
Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up It was a perfect political performance — not just for Wu but also for the Trump administration. Advertisement Since President Trump took office, Boston and its mayor have become the perfect targets for a Trump administration looking to please a base that scorns liberal cities and their impractical policies. Likewise, when Trump attacks, Wu gets to position herself as the city's savior against a hostile regime. But this mutually beneficial feud does little to address legitimate immigration policy issues. The more Wu taunts Trump to build up her own political standing, the more she risks a harsher backlash against the city — and the state's vulnerable migrant population. Advertisement The federal government has the right to deport unauthorized immigrants. Cities and towns can choose not to help the government. In both cases, Massachusetts politicians are right to call out the Trump administration's overzealous targeting of peaceable and productive migrants. But they lose credibility by ignoring nonsensical policies that endanger public safety by preventing cooperation between immigration authorities and police on civil detainers for criminal migrants. A civil detainer is a request to local authorities that they hold an immigrant in detention until federal agents can pick them up. Boston ignores detainers, even which is a big part of why the city is in Bondi's crosshairs. The state has also released migrants That's because in 2017, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled in Lunn v. Commonwealth that the Legislature would have to specifically authorize court officers to honor civil detainers to hold deportable immigrants, a decision that has been interpreted to apply to local police too. The Democratic-led Legislature has failed to do so, not even for unauthorized immigrants who have committed heinous crimes. That means if for any reason Boston officers pick up a convicted criminal who is also in the county illegally, they can't hold them solely on a federal civil detainer — no matter how much safer the community would be without them. Ed Davis, the former Boston Police commissioner who was front and center at Tuesday's press conference, acknowledged in an interview that the lack of cooperation between police and immigration authorities can pose a public safety risk. 'I think that it's logical when there are criminal charges against people that the police use every tool at their disposal, including the immigration law, to try to stop that behavior and remove the individuals responsible from their victims,' Davis told me, clarifying that he prefers that detainers are honored by local law enforcement for individuals convicted of serious crimes. Advertisement He also noted that criminal migrants often victimize members of their own community. Before the current restrictions on cooperation, 'I used to go to neighborhoods like East Boston. … I would explain the policy that we had [then], which was to use the immigration laws to deport really dangerous criminals, people that were preying on their own communities,' he said. 'And the immigrant communities in the city were supportive of that.' The Trump administration has made it clear that its priority is to deport criminal migrants, but 'collateral arrests' of other migrants can occur in the process — and it has said that risk is greater in sanctuary cities. 'If more agencies had just turned people over in a confined setting [law enforcement custody], we wouldn't be out in the community,' acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Todd Lyons By allowing law enforcement to cooperate with immigration officials on cases that endanger public safety, Massachusetts leaders might just be able to decrease the number of federal agents out in the migrant communities they purport to protect. Advertisement Wu and her Democratic colleagues have ignored these gaps in the law. But it's far from a controversial take to support the deportation of migrants who have committed violent crimes. In fact, The Trump administration is choosing a maximalist approach both to send a message and to make a spectacle out of punishing liberal cities. But by ignoring impractical policies as she positions herself as a resistance figure, Wu plays into Trump's political hand — even while strengthening her own in the process. Carine Hajjar is a Globe Opinion columnist. She can be reached at
