Victoria Roshchyna tried to cut her wrists at Taganrog remand prison – testimony of a person released from captivity

The ex-prisoner Brytva, who was released from captivity in October 2025, told Slidstvo.Info that during her stay in Taganrog remand prison, journalist Victoria Roshchyna constantly insisted that a psychologist be brought to her. During another refusal from the guards, Roshchyna had hysterics, she tore off the ceiling and tried to cut her wrists with it. In addition, Roshchyna was sent to the punishment cell for disobedience.

This is reported by Slidstvo.Info.

The person released from captivity under the pseudonym Brytva, who was returned to Ukraine in October 2025, told Slidstvo.Info about the details of the detention of Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna in Taganrog remand prison. For some time, Brytva was kept in a neighboring cell, so they could even knock on each other’s doors before going to bed and wish each other a good night.

“Roshchyna ‘received’ a lot. According to the russians, she behaved badly and was noisy. They needed everyone to sit quietly and not open their mouths. And she asked for a psychologist, then to change books. She constantly asked for the operational staff,” says the exiled person.

According to Brytva, in the Taganrog remand prison, Victoria Roshchyna was repeatedly sent to a solitary confinement cell for “misbehavior.”

“There are systematic beatings in the solitary confinement cell. It’s a small cell; in the morning, you take out the mattress, they fasten the bed, and that’s it. You either walk or sit on the floor,” claims the man.

During one of the morning checks, Roshchyna once again asked to bring a psychologist to her. The guards were outraged by this request.

“And the girl starts hysterical. And they (guards, — ed.) yell at her: “Go to the cell! Don’t get nervous!” And she goes into the cell. We hear screams. And she, as I understand it, tore off the plastic ceiling and cut her veins. But not much, she only spoiled the skin. The doctors came running,” recalls Brytva.

As earlier reported, Victoria Roshchyna died on September 19, 2024, in remand prison No. 3 in the city of Kizel, Perm Krai of the russian federation.

Roshchyna was captured by the russians in August 2023, when she went to make reports from the territories occupied by russia.

For more than a year, her relatives and friends waited for Victoria to be exchanged and return home. However, in October 2024, her father received news from the russians that Victoria had died in captivity.

Previously, journalists from Slidstvo.Info, together with the organization Reporters Without Borders and colleagues from the media outlets Suspilne and Hraty, learned that Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna was brutally tortured in russian captivity. There were knife wounds on her body, the journalist weighed up to 30 kilograms, and the employees of the russian colony hid her from checks.

Vladyslava Kobko