Ukrainian prosecutors are investigating the death of a 27-year-old Ukrainian journalist in Russian custody as a possible war crime. Prosecutors are investigating her death as premeditated murder after a previous investigation was opened into her disappearance.

Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna, who went missing in an occupied part of her country last year, died in Russian detention last month, Ukrainian authorities said earlier this week.

Viktoriia Roshchyna disappeared in August 2023 in a part of Ukraine now occupied by Russian forces. It took nine months for Russian authorities to confirmed the journalist had been detained. They gave no reason.

An award-winning Ukrainian journalist held in Russian captivity for more than a year was confirmed dead, authorities announced this week. Victoria Roshchyna, 27, went missing in August 2023 after traveling to Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine for reporting.

Ukraine said on Friday it was investigating the death in Russian captivity of a Ukrainian journalist whose first-hand reports provided a glimpse into life under Russian occupation early in Moscow’s invasion.

Ukrainian officials on Thursday confirmed the death of freelance journalist Victoria Roshchyna, though the circumstances surrounding her death were unclear.