DNA test confirms killing of Ukrainian woman human rights defender Victoria Roshchyna in Russian captivity

On 24 April 2025, the Ukrainian Ministry of Interior reported, and the Prosecutor’s General Office of Ukraine confirmed that one of the bodies, repatriated to Ukraine from Russia in February 2025, was the body of woman human rights defender Victoria Roshchyna. According to the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, a DNA test confirmed, with a probability of over 99%, the identity of the deceased as that of Victoria Roshchyna, and a forensic medical examination revealed numerous signs of torture and ill-treatment on her body. At the request of the family, additional DNA testing and further examinations involving foreign experts have also been planned to accurately determine her identity and the cause of death.

Victoria Roshchyna was a woman human rights defender and journalist, who worked to promote the observance of the right to a fair trial and freedom of assembly. She also reported on the persecution of activists and public figures, as well as illegal construction in Kyiv, which has been accompanied by the destruction of urban parks and buildings of historical importance. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Victoria shifted her focus towards documenting war crimes and human rights violations, collecting evidence, in particular, in the Russian-occupied territories. Prior to this, she spent several years working for Hromadske, a prominent Ukrainian media outlet, then subsequently as a freelance reporter. She often collaborated with Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe (Ukrainian service), Ukrainska Pravda. In recognition of her important work, Victoria Roshchyna was awarded the Courage in Journalism Award 2022 by International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF), an organisation working internationally to elevate the status of women in the media. In March 2025, during the opening of the One World Film Festival in Prague, Czech Republic, Victoria Roshchyna was officially recognised as a co-recipient of the 2025 Homo Homini Award for her courageous work as a human rights defender and journalist.

On 24 April 2025, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine confirmed a statement made by Ukraine’s Ministry of Interior, that Russian authorities returned the body of woman human rights defender Victoria Roshchyna to Ukraine on 25 February 2025. This occured five months after her parents received a letter on 10 October 2024 from the Russian Ministry of Defence, that reported her killing on 19 September 2024. At the briefing of the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuriy Byelousov, the Head of War Crimes Investigation Department stated that several dozens of bodies were delivered to the city of Vinnytsia as a result of the exchange on 25 February. The Russian side provided no identification or documentation, except for a toe tag bearing the name “Roshchyna”, which was discovered during the examination of the bodies. A DNA test was ordered to confirm the identity of the body. DNA samples were collected from both of Victoria Roshchyna’s parents for molecular examination, and the DNA test concluded, with a probability of over 99%, that the body belongs to the deceased woman human rights defender. According to a statement made by a Ukrainian Legal Advisory Group, the woman human rights defender's parents do not consider the DNA test results as exhaustive, and are awaiting the findings from further tests.

The Prosecutor General’s Office reported that the forensic medical examination uncovered numerous signs of torture and ill-treatment on the victim's body, including abrasions and haemorrhages on various parts of the body, and a broken rib. Experts also observed possible signs of the use of electric shock. This information will be further investigated during an additional forensic medical examination involving international experts.

On 3 March 2025, a coalition of Ukrainian human rights media outlets – Graty, Slidstvo.Info, Suspilne – in partnership with Reporters without Borders – published a journalistic investigation into the fate of Victoria Roshchyna in Russian captivity, mapping her time in Russia and the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine. In August 2023, Russian occupation authorities forcibly disappeared the woman human rights defender in Enerhodar, a city near the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant. The journalistic investigation established that until December 2023, Victoria Roshchyna remained in incommunicado detention in a makeshift prison in Melitopol, a Ukrainian city that is currently under Russian occupation. In December 2023, she was transferred to the Russian city of Taganrog, and placed in a former Pre-trial Detention Centre. Many journalistic reports independently confirmed that detainees in this facility, primarily Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians detainees, were being held incommunicado and subjected to severe torture.

Additionally, an independent investigation into Victoria Roshchyna’s killing in Russian captivity found that she has been either unable to eat, or was purposefully refusing food. Having lost significant weight (according to one witness, she only weighed approximately thirty kilos) and strength, she was transported to a local medical facility in a stretcher because she could not walk. When Russian authorities returned the woman human rights defender to the detention facility in Taganrog, they placed her in solitary confinement. At the end of August 2024, she was granted a call with her parents; reports suggested that the authorities intended to include her in an upcoming prisoner-swap between Ukraine and Russia. According to the witnesses, she was last seen in the Taganrog facility on 8 September 2024.

In early October 2023, Victoria Roshchyna’s family reported that she had gone missing while she was attempting to reach the Russian-occupied territories of southern Ukraine, a journey that brought the woman human rights defender through Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Russia. The woman human rights defender's father, Volodymyr Roshchyn, reported that she left Ukraine for Poland on 25 July 2023. It subsequently came to light that Victoria Roshchyna planned to gather information about Russia's illegal elections in the occupied territories of Ukraine. She was also investigating the consequences of the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam for the people who were located in the Russian-occupied part of the Kherson region, as well as the situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant which had been seized and mined by Russian troops.

On October 17 2023, the Prosecutor General's Office began an investigation into the unlawful deprivation of liberty of Victoria Roshchyna, classified as a war crime under Article 438, Part 1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Front Line Defenders condemns the severe mistreatment of woman human rights defender Victoria Roshchyna, which led to her killing in Russian captivity, and offers its deepest condolences to her family and loved ones. The organisation continues to assert that Russian occupational forces targeted Victoria Roshchyna due to her peaceful and legitimate human rights work. Front Line Defenders demands an immediate investigation into the unlawful actions of the Russian authorities, including severe medical negligence, that led to the woman human rights defender's death in captivity. Front Line Defenders continues to urge Russian authorities, including de-facto authorities in the occupied territories of Ukraine, to stop targeting Ukrainian human rights defenders and journalists, working to document grave human rights violations.

Ukrainian woman human rights defender and journalist Victoria Roshchyna was forcibly disappeared in August 2023 when she travelled through Russia to the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine to conduct a journalistic investigation into the civilian population of these regions suffering from the war.

Victoria Roshchyna works to promote the observance of the right to a fair trial and freedom of assembly, and also reports on the persecution of activists and public figures, as well as illegal construction in Kyiv, which has been accompanied by the destruction of urban parks and buildings of historical importance. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Victoria has shifted her focus towards documenting war crimes and human rights violations, collecting evidence, in particular, in the Russian-occupied territories.

Prior to this, she spent several years working for Hromadske, one of the prominent Ukrainian media outlets, then subsequently as a freelance reporter. She often collaborated with Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe (Ukrainian service), Ukrainska Pravda.

In recognition of her important work, Victoria Roshchyna was awarded the Courage in Journalism Award 2022 by International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF), an organisation working internationally to elevate the status of women in the media.

In early October 2023, the family of Victoria Roshchyna reported that she had gone missing while she was trying to get to the Russian-occupied territories of southern Ukraine, a journey that brought the woman human rights defender through Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Russia. Victoria's father, Volodymyr Roshchyn, said that she left Ukraine for Poland on 25 July 2023. It subsequently came to light that Roshchyna planned to gather information about Russia's illegal elections in the occupied territories of Ukraine. She was also investigating the consequences of the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam for the people who were located in the Russian-occupied part of the Kherson region, as well as the situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant which had been seized and mined by Russian troops.

On 3 August 2023 Victoria Roshchyna called her sister and mentioned that she had made it through border checks, but did not tell them exactly where she was. This was the last time she was in contact with either her family or colleagues before she disappeared. Information also later emerged from the journalist's alleged local contact in the area that she had reached the Russian-occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region. However, this information could not be confirmed or denied by any other source.

On 12 August 2023, Victoria Roshchyna was reported missing to Ukrainian law enforcement agencies. On 20 September 2023, the woman human rights defender’s family reported her disappearance to the state-run "Ukrainian national peace-building center”, a Ukraine based institution, tasked with carrying out the mandate of the National Information Bureau in Ukraine, in accordance with the Geneva Conventions on the Treatment of Prisoners of War and on the Protection of the Civilian Population in Time of War. Later they received a response from this institution which confirmed that Victoria Roshchyna had been detained by Russian authorities. The precise whereabouts of the woman human rights defender, however, still remain unknown, giving grounds for belief that this was an enforced disappearance.

Concerns about Victoria Roshchyna’s disappearance have been so far expressed by the IWMF, PEN Ukraine, the National union of journalists of Ukraine and several media outlets who have previously cooperated with Victoria Roshchyna.

This is not the first time that Victoria Roshchyna was targeted by Russian forces. In March 2022, she was captured by Russian invaders while travelling to Mariupol in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, which was then under siege by the Russian army, to collect information for an article about civilians under attack. She was held in Russian-occupied Berdiansk in the Zaporizhzhia region for 10 days. As Victoria later wrote in her article for Hromadske, she was interrogated by the Federal security service of Russia (FSB) who threatened her with imprisonment and sexual violence. She was released on condition that she record a video in which she deny any claims against the Russian occupiers.