Voices silenced in 2024
A record number of journalists were killed worldwide in 2024, according to figures from the Committee to Protect Journalists’ (CPJ) annual report. At least 124 journalists across 18 countries were killed last year, making it the deadliest year since CPJ started keeping records more than three decades ago.
In Europe and Central Asia, among the voices silenced were Ukrainian freelance journalist Viktoria Roshchina, 27, whose courageous reporting on the Russian invasion of Ukraine underscores the dangers journalists face covering the war. She died under unclear circumstances in Russia on September 19, 2024 while being transferred for a prisoner exchange. As of February 2025, the Russian authorities had still not returned her body to her homeland.
When Roshchina was just a teenager, she began working as a journalist covering the courts and crime. Following Russia’s invasion and occupation of Eastern Ukraine in 2022, she worked as a freelance journalist for several Ukrainian media outlets and wrote about her experience living in Russian-occupied areas.
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Roshchina went missing on August 3, 2023 while reporting in eastern Ukraine, and her detention was confirmed by Russia in April 2024. Ukraine is investigating her death under the Ukrainian criminal code, which pertains to the “violation of the laws and customs of war combined with intentional murder.”
Roshchina is the 17th journalist to die reporting on the war in Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, according to CPJ’s research.
Freelancers accounted for more than one third of the total journalist killings in 2024, with at least 43 freelancers killed, an unprecedented increase in CPJ’s history.
“Responsibility for Roshchina’s death lies with the Russian authorities, who detained her for daring to report the truth on the Russia-Ukraine war. Ukrainian and Russian authorities must do everything in their power to investigate Roshchina’s death,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator.
Dive deeper:
- CPJ’s 2024 Killed Report.
- Russia’s repression record.
- Read Roshchina’s reporting for Hromadske.
Gulnoza Said
Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator
[email protected]
Anna Brakha
Europe and Central Asia Researcher
[email protected]
facebook.com/CPJEurasia
@CPJ_Eurasia
Committee to Protect Journalists
