““We discussed in detail the return of civilians, the return of deported children. And we hope for support,” – Volodymyr Zelenskyi about the results of the meeting with Pope Francis”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“It is very difficult to conduct this work – to encourage exchanges, and that is why we need special help, in particular the efforts of the Vatican. We agreed that Ukraine will hand over the list of journalists who are currently in captivity in Russia. We discussed in detail the return of civilians, the return of deported children. And we hope for support,” he said about the results of the meeting with Pope Francis in his video message.
Zelensky added that Kyiv is preparing a meeting in Canada this month regarding this point of the Peace Formula, regarding humanitarian issues. The Vatican was invited to take part in it.
The President recalled the Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roschyna, whose death in Russian captivity became known the day before.
“She was on the lists for exchange. It is very difficult to conduct this work – to encourage exchanges, and that is why we need special help, in particular the efforts of the Vatican,” he explained.
On October 10, Petro Yatsenko, a representative of the Coordination Staff for the Treatment of Prisoners of War in Ukraine, reported that Ukrainian journalist Viktoriya Roshchyna, who went missing during a trip to the occupied territories and was held in Russian territory, died in Russian captivity.
The Russians first detained Roschyna in Berdyansk in March 2022, when she was writing reports for the media (including Radio Liberty) about life in the temporarily occupied territories. Then the journalist was released, forced to record a video message that she had no complaints against the Russian military. Roshchyna returned to the territory controlled by Ukraine, but in July 2023 again went to the territories occupied by Moscow.
Viktoriya Roschyna stopped contacting her relatives on August 3, 2023. According to her father, Roschyna left Ukraine for Poland on July 27 and was supposed to reach the occupied territories in the east of Ukraine (via Russia) in three days. Then Volodymyr Roschyn said that the Ukrainian Security Service confirmed to the family that Victoria had been captured by Russian forces.
Victoria Roshchyna was the author of a series of reports for Radio Liberty, she collaborated with Radio Liberty in 2022 as a freelancer. She also cooperated with “Ukrainian Pravda”, hromadske, “Ukrainian Radio”, “UA:Pershiy” and “Censor.net”.
Earlier, the international human rights organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reported that more than 100 Ukrainian and foreign journalists accredited in Ukraine were affected by the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia.