A Ukrainian journalist who was captured by Russia while reporting from occupied east Ukraine has died in detention, a Ukrainian official said.

Victoria Roshchyna, who would have turned 28 this month, disappeared in August last year after travelling to Russian-held eastern Ukraine for a report.

She remained missing until April 2024, when her father received a letter from Moscow’s defence ministry saying she was being held in Russian detention, according to Ukraine’s main journalist union.

The circumstances of her arrest were not made public and it was not clear where she was being held inside Russia.

“Unfortunately, information about Victoria’s death has been confirmed,” said Petro Yatsenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s prison of war coordination headquarters on Thursday.

“It is too early to talk about the circumstances of the death, we are working to establish them,” he added.

Press rights group Reporters Without Borders said on social media it was “shocked” by Roshchyna’s death and offered condolences to her relatives.

Two dozen media officials held

Russian news outlet Mediazona reported that she died while being transferred to Moscow from a prison in Taganrog, near the Ukrainian border.

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

Ukraine said in May that more than two dozen Ukrainian media officials were being held in Russian captivity and that negotiations on their return were underway.

Roshchyna worked as a freelancer 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 east Ukraine.