UP freelance author goes missing in occupied territory of Ukraine

The International Women's Media Foundation is concerned about the disappearance of Viktoriia Roshchyna, a Ukrainian journalist and freelance author for Ukrainska Pravda, who disappeared on 3 August in a territory temporarily occupied by Russia.

Source: IWMF; Sevgil Musaieva, editor-in-Chief of Ukrainska Pravda, in a comment to Daily Beast

Quote from the IWMF: "The International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) has learned that Viktoriia Roshchyna, a Ukrainian freelance journalist and 2022 Courage in Journalism Award winner, has gone missing. We are extremely concerned for her safety and urge international attention to this situation.

Roshchyna disappeared on 3 August 2023, from a Russia-occupied territory from which she was reporting.  She has not been heard from since...

We ask our peers in the human rights and press freedom space to join our demand for information on Roshchyna’s whereabouts and to stand with journalists continuing to bring truth to light amid Russia’s invasion."

Details: The 26-year-old journalist has been publishing materials in independent Ukrainian media since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in February 2022: "During her almost decade-long  journalistic career, she covered difficult — and often dangerous — topics, including crime, courts and human rights".

The editor-in-chief of Ukrainska Pravda, where Roshchyna published her materials, called on the Ukrainian authorities to do everything possible to find the journalist. 

Quote from Musaieva: "She (Roshchyna - ed.) is a brave journalist, she commits to report the most controversial topics, which require courage. She is not a spy, she is a real journalist; she is not indifferent to the fate of people who remained in the occupied territories. It's important for her to tell their stories.

I am calling for Ukrainian authorities to do everything to find her and for Russian authorities to immediately release the journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna."

Background:

• In March 2022, Roshchyna was captured by Russian invaders and held in Berdiansk for 10 days.
• In order to get to the occupied territories, Roshchyna left Ukraine for Poland on 25 July. She planned to travel through Russia to the occupied east of Ukraine in three days.
• The last time she got in touch was on 3 August. Then she said that she had passed several days of border checks but did not say where exactly she was.

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