Ukraine awards Order of Freedom to journalist killed in Russian captivity
Journalist Viktoria Roshchyna, who was killed in Russian captivity in 2024, has been posthumously awarded the Order of Freedom, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Aug. 2.
The Order of Freedom is a Ukrainian state award given for exceptional contributions to the country's sovereignty, democracy, and human rights.
"Viktoria was one of those who spoke the truth about the war. She worked on the front lines and in temporarily occupied territories, risking her life," Zelensky said.
Roshchyna, 27, disappeared in August 2023 while reporting from Ukraine's Russian-occupied territories. Moscow admitted in 2024 that she was in Russian detention.
Her body was returned to Ukraine in late February and falsely labeled as that of an "unidentified man." A forensic examination was later able to identify the body as Roshchyna's through DNA testing.
Ukrainian officials confirmed Roshchyna's death on Oct. 10, 2024, but said that the circumstances were still under investigation. Russia claims Roshchyna died on Sept. 19, 2024.
A recent large-scale media investigation revealed that Roshchyna's body had been returned with missing organs, possibly an attempt to obscure signs of suffocation or strangulation.
The Media Initiative for Human Rights, a Ukrainian NGO, reported that Roshchyna had been held in at least two notorious Russian prisons: Penal Colony 77 in Berdiansk in occupied Ukraine and Detention Center 2 in Russia's Taganrog.
Both facilities are known for the use of torture against prisoners.
Roshchyna was also detained in March 2022 for 10 days by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) while leaving Berdiansk in the direction of Mariupol. As a condition of her release, she was forced to record a video saying Russian forces had saved her life.
