Financial aid for the family of journalist Viktoria Roshchyna, who died in Russian custody, are included in the 2026 state budget plan but will not be available in the near future due to a number of procedural nuances, said Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, chair of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech, in a Facebook post, citing the Finance Ministry’s response to his query.
The Ministry of Finance said that the program covering such financial aid is included in the 2026 draft budget and amounts to 302,800 hryvnias. There is no money for this aid in the 2025 budget. The Ministry of Finance confirmed that if the 2026 budget is approved, Roshchyna’s family will be guaranteed the financial aid.
“The current situation is as follows: the law on the 2026 state budget has to come into effect and the State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting will be able to make payments to Viktoria’s family,” the Ministry of Finance replied.
Before receiving the response from the Ministry, Yaroslav Yurchyshyn had written that the deceased journalist’s family would not be able to receive financial aid this year.
The previous response from the Finance Ministry stated that the State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting program which had decided to pay aid to the family of the deceased journalist did not include any money for the purpose.
The Ministry suggested looking to another program, run by the Ministry of Social Policy, Family, and Unity of Ukraine, as a possible source. It was a program for employees of critical infrastructure facilities.
“But not all media outlets have critical infrastructure status. And Viktoria was a freelancer. It turns out that even if there was money available, her family would not have received it anyway,” Yaroslav Yurchyshyn wrote.
He added that the problem with payments could still be solved.
“For instance, lawmakers are reviewing different budgeting approaches now and introducting amendments to the reserve fund distribution. In fact, this is what we are working on right now. Then there will be an opportunity to fund the State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting programs, so that every journalist, especially war reporters, or their relatives can receive support from the state, which the reporters risk their lives for every day,” the MP said.
(Updated) Yaroslav Yurchyshyn reported in a Facebook post on 11 November that the Ministry of Finance had found a mechanism that would enable Viktoria Roshchyna’s family to receive money from the state in 2026.
“Thank you. Will keep an eye on it,” Yurchyshyn said.
In a comment to the Institute of Mass Information journalist Valentyna Troyan, Yaroslav Yurchyshyn explained that financial aid for Viktoria Roshchyna’s family is a unique case and there are indeed many issues with guarantees for war reporters.
“To the Finance Ministry’s credit, they really were looking for a solution in this case and even promised to address it in 2026. But as for other challenges, a comprehensive approach and a proactive position on part of the media and war reporters themselves are needed. Because if such problems still exist 12 years into the war, this shows that the state does not see them or is ignoring them. So we need to actively propose and promote solutions,” the MP said.
He stressed that it would be optimal if these solutions are proposed by the media community.
Viktoria Roshchyna’s death
The death of Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna in Russian prison was reported on 10 October 2024. According to the letter sent to her family by Russia’s Ministry of Defense on 10 October, Victoria died on 19 September. Viktoria Roshchyna’s name was on the swap lists.
It was reported on 24 April that the body of Viktoria Roshchyna had been brought back to Ukraine in late February this year. She was identified through DNA testing.
The autopsy failed to identify the causes of Viktoria Roshchyna’s death due to the body’s state. However, numerous signs of torture were found on Viktoria’s body.
An investigation by Project Viktoria revealed that Viktoria Roshchyna’s body was listed in the documents as an “unidentified male” when Russia handed it over to Ukraine and had a single label of unclear meaning: SPAS. The examination found that some internal organs were missing from the body. In particular, the brain, eyeballs, and part of the trachea.
Slidstvo.Info discovered that Victoria Roshchyna was brutally tortured in Russian custody: there were stab wounds on her body, the journalist weighed under 30 kilograms, and Russian prison officers hid her from inspections.
Viktoria was buried in Kyiv on 8 August 2025.
