Journalist was tortured and had her organs removed in Russian captivity, report says

A Ukrainian journalist was tortured, killed and had her organs removed before her body was returned by her Russian captors, according to a newly released report by media organizations into her death.

Viktoriia Roshchyna, 27, was captured after she traveled to the Russian-occupied region of Zaporizhzhia in eastern Ukraine to report on the illegal detention and torture of Ukrainians by Russian forces, the joint media report published Tuesday by the nonprofit media organization Forbidden Stories and 12 news outlets found.

A forensic examination of her body revealed numerous signs of torture and ill-treatment, Yuriy Belousov, the head of the War Crimes Unit at the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s office said last week. These included “abrasions and hemorrhages on various parts of the body, a broken rib, neck injuries, and possible electric shock marks on her feet,” he said.

He added that there were signs that an autopsy had been performed on the body before it was returned to Ukraine. The missing organs, he said, could signal that Russia attempted to hide the cause of death, possibly to conceal it had committed a war crime.

NBC News could not independently the allegations in the report and has approached Russia’s Ministry of Defense, the FSB security service and the country’s Federal Penitentiary Service for comment.

Roshchyna, the first Ukrainian journalist known to have died in Russian captivity, worked reported for several independent news outlets including Ukrainska Pravda and Radio Free Europe.

“Viktoriia was the only reporter who covered the occupied territories. For her, it was a mission,” Sevgil Musaieva her editor at Ukrainska Pravda told Forbidden Stories, referring to the fact that she reported from Russian occupied parts of Ukraine after President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion in February 2022.

In April 2024, nearly eight months after her disappearance, Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed it had captured and detained Roshchyna in eastern Ukraine.

The Forbidden Stories report said Roshchyna’s parents had been sent a letter by Russian authorities saying that she died on Sep. 19 while being transferred from southwestern city of Taganrog to Moscow.

Her death was condemned the following month by the Committee to Protect Journalists, who said in a statement that Russia was responsible.

Ukrainian officials have said that thousands of its citizens are being held in Russian custody without charges or access to legal counsel.

“The issue of civilian hostages abducted and held by Russia requires increased international attention and immediate and strong response,” Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhy said in a post on X Tuesday.

Hours after the report was published, President Donald Trump said he believed Putin wanted to stop the war. “If it weren’t for me, I think he’d want to take over the whole country,” Trump told ABC News in an interview Tuesday. “I will tell you, I was not happy when I saw Putin shooting missiles into a few towns and cities.”

Later Russia launched a drone and missile attack on the Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv and Dnipro overnight Wednesday, killing at least one person and injuring at least 46.