Missing Ukrainian TV journalist ‘abducted by Russia’s security services’, her channel claims

Employer says reporter’s whereabouts are unknown after she vanished on Tuesday

Victoria Roschina had been covering the war in Zaporizhzhia (AP)

A Ukrainian TV journalist has been kidnapped by the Russian security services, her employer claims.

Victoria Roschina, who works for broadcaster Hromadske, has been out of contact for nearly a week, according to the station.

It said it suspected she was abducted on Tuesday, and her whereabouts were unknown.

Ms Roschina has extensively covered the Ukrainian-Russian war.

Earlier this month, she wrote how Russian forces had attacked a vehicle she was travelling in in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia  region. She escaped unhurt.

The Hromadske channel posted on social media: “Our journalist Victoria Roschina is probably in captivity of Russian occupiers.

“She filmed videos and wrote articles from hot spots in eastern and southern Ukraine all days of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

“March 12 we were unable to get in touch with Victoria.”

It said witnesses had said she was in temporarily occupied Berdyansk – a city in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Hromadske’s Facebook post announcing Victoria Roschina’s disappearance (Hromadske / Facebook)

“On March 16, we learned that on the eve (probably March 15) Victoria Roschina was detained by the Russian FSB. Now nothing is known about her whereabouts.

“We made all efforts to release the journalist in a public way. But it turned out to be a failure.

“Therefore, we urge the Ukrainian and international community to join information and actions to the release of journalist Hromadske Victoria Roschina.”

The broadcaster did not say what evidence it had for claiming the FSB, Russian security services, had taken Ms Roschina.

Another Ukrainian journalist, Oleg Baturin, has also been missing for six days, according to the European Federation of Journalists. It said he was last seen in Kakhovka, a city in the Kherson region occupied by Russian forces.

A colleague of Ms Roschina’s, Yulia Spasokukotska, posted on her Facebook page: “I know this fearless girl, she’s always at the centre of events, as she belongs to journalists. May everything be fine with her!”

A lawyer who met the journalist in Moscow when she was covering a court case involving captured Ukrainian military sailors, said: “She was among the few Ukrainian journalists who worked in the Russian Federation at that moment… and covered this process.

“She later made a documentary about this big case…

“With the start of the Russian invasion, she was again on the front line, performing the duties of a military correspondent on the front line. It has now been revealed that she is captive.

“She needs to be pulled out of there asap.”

Ten days ago, explaining how the Russian tanks had fired on the car she was in, and then taken her laptop and camera, Ms Roschina wrote: “I will never forgive Russia.”

A Russian journalist who interrupted a state TV news bulletin to protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine said she was interrogated for 14 hours by Moscow authorities.