Journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna tried to cut her wrists in front of Russian prison guards in plea for psychological help
Viktoriia Roshchyna, a Ukrainian journalist who was killed in Russian captivity, repeatedly demanded to see a psychologist when she was in the Taganrog pre-trial detention centre, and on one occasion, after her request was refused again, she tried to cut her wrists in front of the guards, a former prisoner who goes by the alias Brytva (Razor) has revealed.
Source: Slidstvo.Info, a Ukrainian investigative journalism outlet, citing a former prisoner who spent some time in a cell next to Roshchyna's and was brought back to Ukraine in October 2025
Quote: "Roshchyna was treated pretty badly. In the Russians' view, she behaved badly, she was noisy. They needed everyone to sit quietly and shut up. And she'd be asking for a psychologist or for her books to be changed. She was constantly asking to see the operational officers."
Details: Brytva added that in the Taganrog remand prison, Roshchyna was repeatedly put in solitary confinement – a punishment cell – for "bad behaviour".
"In the punishment cell there are systematic beatings. It's a small cell: in the morning you take the mattress out, they strap the bed up, and that's it. You either walk around or sit on the floor," the man said.
He said that during one morning inspection, Roshchyna asked again to see a psychologist, and this angered the guards.
"And the girl becomes hysterical. And they [the guards – ed.] shout at her: 'Go to your cell! Stop getting on our nerves!' And she goes into the cell. We hear screaming. And I understand that she tore off a plastic light cover and cut her wrists. But not badly – she only grazed the skin. The medics came running," Brytva said.
Background:
- Viktoriia Roshchyna died in pre-trial detention centre No. 3 in the city of Kizel in Perm Krai, Russia, in 2024.
- The journalist ended up in Russian captivity in August 2023 when she went to report from Russian-occupied territories.
- For over a year, her family and loved ones waited for her to be included in a prisoner exchange and to return home, but in October 2024 her father received word from the Russians that she had died in captivity.
- Later, Roshchyna's body was returned to Ukraine.
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