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Mourners Pay Respect For 27-year-old Ukrainian Journalist Who Died In Russian Captivity

Published

1 month ago

August 8, 2025

A woman mourns at the coffin of Victoria Roshchyna, a Ukrainian journalist who died while in captivity in Russia, during her funeral ceremony on Independence Square in Kyiv on August 8, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Victoria Roshchyna, a Ukrainian journalist, died at the age of 27 on September 19, 2024 while in captivity in Russia, and was subjected to 'systematic torture and 'deprived of medical care', according to the Ukrainian prosecutor's office. She was captured while reporting on the occupied Ukrainian part of the southern region of Zaporizhzhia. (Photo by Roman PILIPEY / AFP)

Dozens of mourners packed into a cathedral in central Kyiv on Friday to pay their respects to independent journalist Victoria Roshchyna, who died in Russian captivity last year aged 27.

Her body, which Russia returned in February, remained in a closed coffin throughout the service.

Roshchyna, who worked freelance for several Ukrainian news outlets, disappeared in August 2023 on a reporting trip to the Moscow-held part of Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region.

She died in Russian detention just over one year later, her body showing “numerous signs of torture” including abrasions and a broken rib, according to Kyiv.

The circumstances of her arrest were never made public, and Russia has not explained her death.

The priest at the funeral service said she had endured “torments”.

“The most important thing in journalism is to report the truth. And they don’t like the truth,” he said, referring to Russia.

Many in the crowd were fellow reporters, some of whom wept when the cameras were turned off.

A joint investigation by Reporters Without Borders and Ukrainian investigative news outlet Slidstva reported that she was arrested in Energodar in southern Ukraine, and later held for several weeks in the Russian-held city of Melitopol.

From there, she was transferred to a jail in the Russian port city of Taganrog. Upon arrival, she had scars and “knife wounds” on her body, the investigation found, citing a cellmate.

During her time in Taganrog, she stopped eating and was placed in solitary confinement, according to the investigation.

Thousands of Ukrainians opposed to Moscow’s rule have been detained in occupied territories since Russia’s invasion in 2022, many of whom face torture at the hands of security forces, according to rights groups.

Ukraine said it would press criminal charges against the governor of the prison in Taganrog where she was held, alleging she was subjected to “systemic torture, beatings, humiliation, threats, severe restrictions on access to medical care, drinking water and food”.

It has described her death as “premeditated murder” and accused Russia of a war crime.

A UN expert panel last year demanded that the Russian government provide answers over her death.

Russia does not comment on the treatment of individual prisoners but says it is committed to investigating torture and abuse in its penal system.

During the funeral service, her father Volodymyr, fixed his eyes on the coffin while her sister looked on. They held hands throughout the ceremony.

Angelina Karyakina, editor-in-chief at Ukrainian news outlet Hromadske for whom Roshchyna worked, described her as a tireless and ambitious journalist who preferred to work alone.

“She didn’t like to depend on other people,” she told AFP.

“She would take the camera herself, often shoot photos and videos on her own, and was a one-woman band.”

Roshchyna worked for various independent news outlets, including Ukrainska Pravda, and had collaborated with the Ukrainian service of US-funded media outlet Radio Free Europe.

In 2022, she was awarded the Courage in Journalism award by the International Women’s Media Foundation for her reporting from eastern Ukraine.

After the church service, the mourners moved to Kyiv’s main square, where Radio Liberty editor Taras Ilkiv paid tribute to her “historic work” in the occupied territories, his voice breaking.

“I am convinced that Viktoria believed like no one else that these are our people, in Mariupol, in Berdyansk, in Kherson,” he said, referring to cities that Russia had captured at various points in the war.

“Almost no one is capable of such work,” he said.

Related Topics:Russia Ukraine Ukrainian Journalist

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Headline

Kimmel’s Suspension: Obama Slams Trump For ‘Dangerous’ Attack On Free Speech

Published

10 hours ago

September 19, 2025

Editor

Former United States President Barack Obama has condemned the suspension of the late-night show hosted by Jimmy Kimmel following remarks he made about slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

In a post on X on Thursday, Obama described the suspension of the show as a dangerous attack on free speech led by President Donald Trump.

He wrote, “After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like.

“This is precisely the kind of government coercion that the First Amendment was designed to prevent — and media companies need to start standing up rather than capitulating to it.”

Obama’s comments came after ABC, owned by Walt Disney, announced on Wednesday that Jimmy Kimmel Live had been suspended indefinitely.

The decision followed threats of a federal investigation into Kimmel’s remarks about conservative activist Charlie Kirk, a close Trump ally who was shot and killed on September 10 while debating students at a Utah university.

During Monday’s broadcast, Kimmel accused Kirk’s supporters of using his assassination to “score political points.” At least one local ABC affiliate had already announced plans to stop airing the program before the network’s decision.

The suspension has sparked backlash from free speech advocates, who argue that the administration’s actions amount to political censorship.

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Ghana To Take More West African Deportees From US

Published

10 hours ago

September 19, 2025

Editor

Ghana will receive another 40 West Africans deported from the United States in the coming days, Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said, after the government revealed last week a deal had been struck with Washington.

Deporting people to third countries instead of their home nations has been a hallmark of US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants, notably by sending hundreds to a notorious prison in El Salvador.

Ghana President John Mahama announced last week that 14 deportees from the region had been sent to the country, sparking questions over their current whereabouts and pushback from the political opposition.

“On humanitarian grounds, pan-African solidarity, let us accept our fellow West Africans. And let’s make the point that Ghana is your home,” Ablakwa told Ghanaian broadcaster Channel1 TV late Wednesday.

He said the deportees, who are vetted before arrival, will be allowed to remain in Ghana temporarily, per regional visa-free travel rules, or return to their home countries.

The Ghanaian government previously said that many of the deported west Africans had already returned to their home countries — though lawyers in the United States say at least some of them are being held in military detention in Ghana in “cruel conditions”.

Five Nigerians and Gambians deported to Ghana were granted protection from deportation by immigration authorities in the United States, their lawyers said in a Tuesday statement.

If they continue on to their countries of origin, they risk “torture, persecution or death”, said Lee Gelernt, of the American Civil Liberties Union.

In an unprecedented move, Trump has overseen the deportation of hundreds of people to Panama, including some who were sent away before they could have their asylum applications processed.

Hundreds have also been sent to El Salvador, with the US administration invoking an 18th-century law to remove people it has accused of being Venezuelan gang members.

Some were sent despite US judges ordering the planes carrying them to turn around.

The deportation agreement with Ghana comes as Washington has hiked tariffs on Ghanaian goods and restricted visas issued to its nationals.

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Putin Has ‘Let Me Down’, Trump Laments As UK State Visit Ends

Published

11 hours ago

September 19, 2025

Editor

Donald Trump warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin had “really let me down” as he met Prime Minister Keir Starmer for wide-ranging talks on Thursday, the final day of the US president’s historic UK state visit.

A day after King Charles III treated Trump to royal pageantry at Windsor Castle, the Republican flew to Starmer’s Chequers country residence for talks on thorny issues, including the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

Starmer has positioned himself as a bridge between Trump and European allies, particularly on the war in Ukraine, in a bid to secure more commitments for Kyiv from the US leader.

And his calls, repeated again on Thursday, for more international pressure on Putin appear to be gaining more traction with Trump, who slammed the Russian leader for continuing the war despite his efforts to stop the fighting.

Trump told a post-talks press conference that he had thought the Ukraine conflict would be the “easiest” to end “because of my relationship with President Putin, but he’s let me down. He’s really let me down.”

He urged European nations to stop buying Russian oil, saying that “if the price of oil comes down, Putin’s going to drop out of that war.”

– ‘Unbreakable bond’ –

Starmer’s warm tone with the 79-year-old Trump has won some leniency in the president’s tariff war, with the British leader saying Thursday the trade deal the two countries signed in May was the first by the US and also “the best”.

But Trump said that the pair had “one of our few disagreements” about the UK’s plan to recognise a Palestinian state.

The US leader also offered strong thoughts on illegal migration in the UK, revealing that “I told the Prime Minister I would stop it”, even if it meant calling in the military.

Earlier in the day, Trump hailed America’s “unbreakable bond” with Britain as he and Starmer signed a huge tech deal, boosting ties in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and nuclear energy.

At the signing ceremony attended by a host of US tech CEOs, Labour leader Starmer said he and Republican Trump were “leaders who genuinely like each other.”

The deal comes on the back of pledges of £150 billion ($205 billion) of investment into the UK from US giants including Microsoft, Google and Blackstone.

Trump had earlier said goodbye to King Charles at Windsor, calling him a “great gentleman and a great king” as he left the castle heading to Chequers.

Appealing to Trump’s admiration for British wartime leader Winston Churchill, Starmer led the US president on a tour of Churchill artifacts at Chequers.

Starmer is facing political troubles at home after sacking his ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson, over his connections to disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Sex offender Epstein has also haunted Trump over recent weeks, with further revelations about the pair’s relationship in the 1990s and early 2000s.

– ‘Highest honours’ –

Having negotiated the potentially perilous press conference relatively unscathed, Starmer can claim some justification for granting Trump an unprecedented second state visit, with investment deals and deepening alignment on Ukraine to show for the diplomatic effort.

Trump was Wednesday lavished with the full pomp and circumstance of the British state — the second time it has done so, after his first visit in 2019.

“This is truly one of the highest honours of my life,” Trump said at the state banquet.

The king meanwhile hailed Trump’s peace efforts and support of Ukraine, after a day featuring gun salutes, soldiers on horseback, and bagpipes, all designed to appeal to the US president’s fascination with royalty.

But he also stressed to Trump the need to protect the environment for “our children, grandchildren, and those who come after them”.

Melania Trump remained in Windsor on Thursday morning, where she met scouts with Princess Catherine, and viewed Queen Mary’s Doll’s House with Queen Camilla.

The US first lady’s husband was kept far from the British public, with an estimated 5,000 people marching through central London Wednesday to protest against his visit.

Trump was due to return to Washington later Thursday.