The journalist Victoria Rosjtjyna disappeared in August last year during a reporting trip in the parts of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russian invasion forces. It was not until April this year that her father received a message from Moscow's Defense Department stating that she was being held captive. Details about the circumstances of her arrest have not been made public, nor where she was being held.
On Thursday, a representative of Ukraine's organization for prisoner exchanges confirmed that Rosjtjyna – who would have turned 28 in October – had died. In connection with the announcement, Ukraine's prosecutor's office stated that an investigation would be launched into "war crimes and premeditated murder".
The international organization Reporters Without Borders said it was "shocked" by the news, the EU condemned it and called it "abhorrent".
It is a hard blow for the many journalists who knew her, said Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, and added that there are many more victims whose fates are unknown.
