A FEMALE journalist has died after spending more than a year in Russian detention, claim Ukrainian officials.
Victoria Roshchyna, 27, mysteriously disappeared last August while reporting from inside Russian-occupied Ukraine with officials now saying she has tragically died as Vladimir Putin’s prisoner of war.
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Ukrainian Journalist Victoria Roshchyna has died after spending more than a year in Russian captivityCredit: Instagram/ victoria_roshchyna
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Roshchyna mysteriously disappeared last AugustCredit: Instagram/ victoria_roshchyna
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Roshchyna was detained last year after reporting about the Ukraine war inside Russian occupied landCredit: Instagram
Roshchyna’s family first reported her missing to Ukrainian officials on August 12 last year after not hearing from her for days.
The journalist last spoke to her sister a week earlier as she said she had made it through routine border checks to get across Russian land but didn’t disclose her location.
An official missing person case was then filed on September 21.
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The esteemed Ukrainian reporter was missing for over 6 months with her whereabouts finally revealed in April 2024 when her worried father was sent a letter from Moscow.
Russia‘s defence ministry said Roshchyna was being held at a Russian detention centre, according to Ukraine’s main journalist union.
The reason why she was arrested and subjected to months of imprisonment has never been made public.
The exact location of the jail has also been kept underwraps by Russian officials.
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Her death was first announced by Petro Yatsenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s prison of war coordination headquarters.
He said: “Unfortunately, information about Victoria’s death has been confirmed.
“It is too early to talk about the circumstances of the death, we are working to establish them.”
Watch moment £16m Russian stash of 400 kamikaze drones are blown to smithereens in crippling blow to Putin’s air power
Press rights group Reporters Without Borders say they are “shocked” over Roshchyna’s death.
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Russian news outlet Mediazona have claimed she may have died when she was being transferred to Moscow from a prison in Taganrog, near to the Ukrainian border.
Victoria claimed at the time that Russians fired at her vehicle and forced a group of press to abandon the car and lie down hiding in a field.
After returning to the car some time after and continuing on with the trip across southern Ukraine Roshchyna was allegedly taken by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), her colleagues said.
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She was released after 10 days in captivity.
Unfortunately, information about Victoria’s death has been confirmed
Petro YatsenkoUkraine’s prison of war coordination headquarters
Roshchyna worked as a freelancer for various independent news outlets in Eastern Europe.
These included Ukrainska Pravda and the Ukrainian service of US-funded media outlet Radio Free Europe.
In 2022, her frontline reporting was honoured when she received the Courage in Journalism award by the International Women’s Media Foundation.
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Roshchyna is just one of thousands of Ukrainians known to be held in Russia after they opposed to Moscow’s iron fist ruling.
Many have been detained in Russian-occupied territories since Putin’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Rights groups say some have faced torture and abuse at the hands of their captors.
Back in May, Ukraine claimed more than two dozen media officials are being held in Russian captivity.
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The country are in negotiations to free those still locked up.
Many other Russian prisoners jailed on bogus charges have been released this year.
A huge 24 person swap deal between the US and Russia in July saw journalists, military officials and foreign opposers to Putin’s regime freed in exchange for Russian prisoners.
Former Observer editors Will Hutton, Roger Alton and John Mulholland
Three former Observer editors have written to the Scott Trust expressing their “profound concern” over the proposed sale of the newspaper to Tortoise Media.
Will Hutton, Roger Alton and John Mulholland have together racked up 20 years editing the UK’s oldest Sunday newspaper.
They claim that safeguards about the Trust’s commitment to The Observer, made when it was bought in 1993, “are plainly being abrogated”.
They note that then-chair of the Scott Trust Hugo Young said at the time of the purchase: “The trust safeguards will be fully extended to The Observer, which will be edited independently of The Guardian and retain its separate character.”
The Scott Trust has owned The Guardian since 1936 when it was set up to safeguard the future of the title and protect it from death duties. The Scott Trust’s purpose, as defined in 1992, is “to secure the financial and editorial independence of The Guardian in perpetuity”.
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Press Gazette understands that Guardian management believe the Hugo Young quote related to the editorial independence of The Observer, not about it being covered by the trust’s core responsibilities.
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The three editors wrote that members of the Scott Trust and Guardian Media Group board may choose to “put aside” the “commitment” that was previously made to The Observer, but said: “…we would dispute that it can be done so readily and still honourably – so the reasons need to be unambiguously compelling, and the due diligence undertaken to ensure the Observer has the best prospect of surviving must be of the highest order.”
They wrote: “It has survived for close to 250 years: there is a heavy responsibility on those involved in current discussions to ensure that any decision best protects The Observer, and not just for the next five years.
“Here there are clear deficiencies. Tortoise Media’s interest in the title and belief it could quickly be made to flourish is testimony to its standing with readers and beyond.
“The Observer is valuable media real estate, and an important means for ensuring liberal journalism has a significant presence on Sundays.
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“Despite considerably less investment than its principal rivals, it has recently posted an increase in market share. Its presence in the Guardian group, with its distinct character, gives the group a breadth and depth it would otherwise lack as well as carrying costs that The Guardian will carry alone if the sale proceeds.”
The Observer’s current circulation is kept secret by GMG but is believed to total around 100,000.
According to a financial statement seen by Press Gazette, The Observer newspaper made a contribution of £3.4m to Guardian Media Group for the year to August 2024 if you subtract its direct revenue of £16.4m from directly-attributable costs of £13m. These figures do not include any shared Guardian resources which include: editorial, marketing, technology and office. They also don’t include any digital revenue driven by Observer journalism.
The editors have raised concerns about the sustainability of the Tortoise Media plan for The Observer.
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They note: “We admire Tortoise’s journalism and respect its achievements together with its high regard for the Observer, but its promised £5m a year additional investment over five years will be significantly eaten up by the costs of underwriting the Observer’s operation as a stand-alone Sunday newspaper – unless it has other undisclosed ambitions for the title. And does Tortoise have the resource to weather unexpected uncertainties – another pandemic or geopolitical tensions?”
The letter concludes: “It is surprising that the trust and board have moved straight to a potential sale to an enterprise backed largely by venture capital whose business model is not long-term ownership but periodic exit – more likely in adverse circumstances.
“Have options for repurposing the Observer under the Trust’s ownership been considered and evaluated? What editorial and financial framework for the Observer’s continuing editorial independence and financial viability is the Trust negotiating?
“The entire exercise seems to have scant respect for earlier commitments or ongoing responsibilities to staff, readers and wider stakeholders. Surely our shared aim is as far as possible to protect The Observer’s long-standing tradition of upholding liberal values as a great Sunday paper? We are not resistant to change, but is this change the better for The Observer and even The Guardian – or worse for both?”
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The Scott Trust met on Monday (7 October) but has yet to issue any response to either this letter or an open letter written by around 80 leading UK cultural figures calling on it to reject the “ill-considered” Tortoise Media offer which it described as a “betrayal”.
Separately, the joint NUJ chapel for The Guardian and Observer has passed a vote of no confidence in The Scott Trust and begun the process of balloting members to ask if they would be prepared to go on strike in protest against the deal.
One well-placed Observer source said: “The atmosphere is terrible. The Guardian management are effectively saying to us that if the Tortoise deal doesn’t go ahead then you have no future here.”
When The Observer’s future was last called into question in 2009, the senior Observer team were given the opportunity to prepare a new-look, scaled-down, lower-cost Observer which ended up performing well commercially and editorially. This time, no other options appear to be currently on the table.
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A spokesperson for the Scott Trust said: “The Scott Trust believes it is right to engage with Tortoise Media over the potential sale of The Observer and negotiations are ongoing. We appreciate that it is a time of uncertainty for staff.”
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our “Letters Page” blog
MILLIONS of households are falling foul of a home insurance mistake that could end up costing them thousands of pounds, new research for The Sun has found.
Undervaluing all of the contents in your home can see you having to fork out over the odds if something gets stolen or damaged – while overvaluing it could void your insurance policy altogether.
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A home insurance mistake could prove costlyCredit: Getty
And recent research from GoCompare, provided exclusively to The Sun, has revealed that an estimated 5.6million households are making the mistake of misjudging the value of their items.
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We exclusively revealed earlier this year that a surge in the price of gold has potentially left thousands of households underinsured on their contents policies.
Add to that undervalued furniture, clothes and electronics, and you could end up having to fork out even more from your own pocket, despite thinking you were covered.
Nathan Blackler, home insurance expert at GoCompare, said: “If you underestimate the cost of replacing your possessions, you could find that in a worst-case scenario, you make a claim and don’t receive enough to replace or repair everything you need to.
Read more on Home Insurance
“Worryingly, our research shows that more than 5.6 million households in the UK are underinsured – and a staggering 9.3 million households don’t have contents insurance at all.”
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Of course, accurately measuring the value of your contents means you could end up paying out more for a policy if it turns out it’s worth more than you thought.
But, the average cost of a contents-only policy in the second quarter of this year was only £137, according to the Association of British Insurers, so any increases will likely be much lower than the cost of being underinsured.
Despite this, GoCompare said a staggering amount of households don’t know how to accurately calculate the value of their possessions.
In a YouGov survey of 2,000 adults carried out in October 2023, only 24% of respondents said they could accurately calculate how much their contents were worth.
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That means over three quarters – 75% – could not accurately measure how much their possessions cost, leaving them at risk of losing out if they come to make an insurance claim.
But it’s not just underestimating the value of your items that could end up costing you.
If you overestimate the worth of your contents, you could end up paying more for the premiums than you actually need.
And inflating the cost of your items could also invalidate your policy if your insurer decides you exaggerated, leaving you with no cover at all – and potentially a huge bill.
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How to calculate the value of your contents accurately
Knowing how to accurately value your possessions can seem daunting, especially if you’ve got a treasure trove of goods inside your home.
But there are some ways to ensure you are doing the best job possible, GoCompare said.
Save receipts for any high-value items
Saving receipts when you’ve bought a high-value item isn’t just helpful if you’re looking for a refund.
Knowing how much that Panasonic TV or Dreams bed cost will help ensure your contents policy is up to date and accurate.
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GoCompare also said it will help you avoid exceeding the single article limit on your policy too.
This is the maximum amount an insurer will pay out for an individual item when you make a claim.
But undervalue one particular item and it could mean you have to fork out for anything over that limit.
Whenever buying anything new that’s of worth, make sure you add it to your contents insurance policy too, so everything is up to date and accurate.
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Walk through your home
It might seem obvious, but walking through the entirety of your home will help flag items you might not otherwise have thought of including in your policy.
Make sure to include anything that might be stowed away in lofts or basements too, like carpets, curtains and garden furniture.
Once you’ve compiled a list of everything, try your best to estimate their value by researching similar items online.
Pay particular attention to antiques and valuable
You might not want to estimate the value of any antiques and highly-prized valuables like jewellery though.
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In this instance, getting a valuation from an expert is advisable, GoCompare said.
This is also another good way to check nothing exceeds the single article limit.
You can get an antiques dealer to do this for you, or you could try one of the major auction houses like Sotheby’s or Bonhams.
Use a contents insurance calculator
Price comparison sites like Confused.com and GoCompare have contents insurance calculators you can use to get an estimation on what your possessions are worth.
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Meanwhile, a number of insurers have their own calculators, including Admiral, Direct Line while John Lewis also has one.
In any case, when it comes to contents insurance, always use a price comparison site to find out the best deal to suit your needs.
What is home insurance?
Home insurance is designed to cover you in the event of fire, flood, or theft or loss of any item inside it.
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There are two types of home insurance policy – contents and buildings.
Buildings insurance covers the cost of repairing any damage to the structure of your property which might have been caused by a fire or flooding.
The “building” includes elements like your roof, walls and floors as well as permanent fixtures such as windows or fitted kitchens.
Contents insurance says what it does on the tin – it covers you in case the contents of your home are damaged, lost or stolen.
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You can buy either buildings or contents policies separately, or combined so you are covered across all scenarios.
Not all home insurance policies cover the same things though, so it’s worth shopping around.
You can use price comparison websites like Compare the Market, GoCompare and Uswitch.
Most home insurance policies also come with an “excess” – the amount you have to pay towards a claim.
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Increasing your excess will see your policy go down, but means you’ll have to fork out more if you have to make a claim.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk.
Sally Magnusson has already written a book about how her family coped with her mother’s dementia
There can’t be many people who spend years raging and grieving over the decline of a parent from dementia without wondering if it awaits them too.
I’m one.
My mother died of this vicious brain condition in 2012. And hardly a day has passed since when that question hasn’t been darting around the edge of my mind, flaring ridiculously into view every time I misplace a word, a name or a pair of glasses.
Actually it’s perfectly normal in a busy life to lose your specs or wonder what you went looking for in the cupboard.
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But tell that to those of us in the traumatised next generation, who have watched loved ones suffer in ways we can still hardly bear to think about. Is this, we ask ourselves, the start of the horror again?
Curing Alzheimer’s is within our grasp
Now, for the first time, we can find out for sure.
A simple blood test, taken as part of a research programme and backed up where necessary by a lumbar puncture and PET scan – which produce three-dimensional images of the inside of the body – can tell us if amyloid, a brain protein implicated in Alzheimer’s disease, is already present.
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I’ve made a film about what that means for individuals like me in their 50s and 60s with a family history of Alzheimer’s, the most common of the illnesses leading to dementia.
And guess what? Deciding if you want to go through with it is not so simple.
My mother, Mamie Baird, was one of the pioneering female journalists of the 1950s.
Bright, clever, quick-witted and funny, she was still writing and giving hilarious after-dinner speeches into her 60s.
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But like a million or so others in the UK, she succumbed to a disease that gnawed at her personality and cognition until it consumed her ability to function at all.
Sally Magnusson
Sally’s mother Mamie (centre) was a pioneering journalist who was still writing and giving after-dinner speeches into her 60s
There was nothing to help her: Little support, and no drug to mitigate the symptoms that over time made life an agony for her and for all of us who loved her.
Dementia is not a natural part of ageing, although the risk increases with age. It’s an illness caused by one, or a combination, of a number of brain conditions.
My mother was diagnosed with both Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia, and although we had good times together in the years afterwards, many laughs and much joyfulness in the moment, the progressive incapacity and disconnection from herself were painful to her beyond words.
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Sally Magnusson
Sally’s daughter Anna Lisa is afraid of the implications of Sally finding out if she has the brain protein
Finestripe
Sally playing with her granddaughter Remy
In 2014, I published the book Where Memories Go, a mixture of memoir and journalism, to highlight what the experience is like for families who have to struggle on without hope of improvement – and I was stunned by the reaction.
In the thousands of messages I got from across the country, it felt as if a great floodgate of pain and family loneliness was opening.
Now 10 years on, there is hope.
Testing, treatments and cure
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Scientists have shown that the build-up of amyloid in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s can be successfully cleared.
They’re convinced that if drugs already in development (and at least one, lecanemab, is now licensed for use in the UK, although not yet on the NHS) are given to people before they develop symptoms, Alzheimer’s can be stopped in its tracks.
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Prof Craig Ritchie says thousands of people need to come forward for testing before they are conscious of symptoms
As Prof Craig Ritchie, who runs the pioneering Scottish Brain Sciences (SBS) in Edinburgh, says: “We can cure Alzheimer’s before it becomes dementia – just as we learned to stop HIV before it became AIDS.”
But to do that, scientists like him need many thousands of people to come forward for testing before they’re conscious of symptoms.
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Which means that folk like me, still gaily going about normal lives and tackling demanding jobs, have to be prepared to find out that they already have the disease process of Alzheimer’s going on in their brains.
Prof Ritchie, who I originally met through my work with the music and dementia charity Playlist for Life, suggested I join the enormous research cohort he is trying to gather at SBS.
“After all, Sally,” he said, “you might equally discover you’re not amyloid-positive. Imagine the relief that would be.”
And if it turns out that I am? If I know what cannot be unknown, what then?
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Sally Magnusson
Sally and husband Norman with their daughter Anna Lisa and sons Jamie, Rossie, Magnus and Siggy
Treatments are coming, but they’re not here yet. The paradox is that only if people like me join research programmes like Craig’s can they come in time to save those of us in our 60s now.
I asked my own family about this.
My four sons think I should go ahead and do it. Find out the truth, they say, and let’s deal with it together.
But my daughter, still traumatised by seeing what happened to her grandma, burst into tears.
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She’s afraid that if we do find out that amyloid is lurking in my brain, with no immediate means of removing it, the knowing will affect our present, not just our future.
We are on the cusp of game-changing developments today, which, if scientists are right, could cure Alzheimer’s soon.
Biomarkers in the blood will allow people at risk to be identified and given the opportunity to participate in trials for new treatments.
That’s good for them and it’s good for their children and grandchildren. But if these trials can’t be run at scale with non-symptomatic volunteers, scientists won’t be able to develop this vital next stage of treatments.
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So they need people like me. What should I do? That’s what my film is about.
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The UK economy grew 0.2 per cent in August following two months of stagnation, driven by expansion in the services, manufacturing and construction sectors.
The rise matched the expectations of economists polled by Reuters.
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Services output grew by 0.1 per cent, manufacturing was up 0.5 per cent and construction expanded 0.4 per cent, according to figures published by the Office for National Statistics on Friday.
The data comes less than three weeks before Labour’s first Budget, when chancellor Rachel Reeves faces the challenge of lifting economic growth while repairing the public finances.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Reeves have put growth at the heart of Labour’s agenda, but have warned the public that the Budget on October 30 will include “painful” choices.
“All main sectors of the economy grew in August, but the broader picture is one of slowing growth in recent months, compared to the first half of the year,” said Liz McKeown, director of economic statistics at the ONS.
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The economy entered a technical recession at the end of last year, but returned to growth at the start of this year as price pressures eased and mortgage rates fell.
However, signs that growth will slow in the second half of the year and falling inflation prompted the Bank of England to cut interest rates in August.
The BoE held interest rates at 5 per cent last month but indicated it may cut borrowing costs as soon as November.
“It’s welcome news that growth has returned to the economy,” Reeves said. “Growing the economy is the number one priority of this government so we can fix the NHS, rebuild Britain and make working people better off.”
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