Kidnapped and tortured to death by Russians, body of Ukrainian journalist also had eyes and organs removed

The body of Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna, who died while in Russian captivity, was discovered missing several internal organs — including her brain, eyes, and part of her trachea — according to an international investigation published by the Forbidden Stories network on April 29.

The report, which involved over 40 journalists from 13 media outlets, including Ukrainska Pravda, suggests the organs may have been intentionally removed to obscure evidence of suffocation or strangulation. An international forensic expert cited in the investigation said the mutilation appeared designed to destroy key forensic indicators.

Roshchyna’s remains were returned to Ukraine in late February, five months after her death, misidentified in Russian custody as an “unidentified male” and tagged with the number 757. Ukrainian forensic experts quickly determined the body was female, and DNA testing later confirmed it was Roshchyna’s with 99% certainty.

Yurii Belousov, head of the war crimes department at Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office, said the journalist’s body bore multiple signs of torture, including bruising consistent with electric shocks. Investigators also documented what appeared to be a pre-return autopsy carried out in Russia.

A bruise on Roshchyna’s neck and a suspected fracture of the hyoid bone — a frequent indicator of strangulation — further support the theory that she was murdered. The Russian abbreviation “SPAS,” meaning “total failure of the arteries of the heart,” had been written on her body.

Investigators believe it may have been used to falsify the cause of death.

Due to the condition of her body, however, forensic teams have not yet been able to establish a definitive cause of death.

Roshchyna, 27, disappeared in August 2023 while reporting from territories occupied by Russian forces. Russia acknowledged her detention only months later. Ukrainian officials confirmed her death on October 10, 2024, but Moscow withheld her body until February 2025.

According to Russian records, Roshchyna died on September 19, 2024.

The Media Initiative for Human Rights, a Ukrainian NGO, reported that she had been held in at least two notorious facilities: Penal Colony No. 77 in occupied Berdiansk and Detention Center No. 2 in Taganrog, Russia — both known for systemic torture.

This was not Roshchyna’s first encounter with Russian authorities. In March 2022, she was detained by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) for 10 days while traveling from Berdiansk toward Mariupol.

Upon her release, she was coerced into recording a video falsely stating that Russian forces had saved her life.