WAKA is 'the music of the Primes'.

“So what happened?

With her in prison?

Why didn’t she?

Come home?”

 

 

Her friends and colleagues.

Say they won’t rest.

Until they’ve investigated.

What happened.

 

“Her life was her work.”

A former editor says.

“It’s a rare type of people.

Who are so determined.”

 

“I’m pretty sure the way.

She would want us.

To remember her is.

Not to stand here and cry.”

 

“But to remember.

Her dignity.

And I think.

What’s important.”

 

“For us journalists.

Is to find out.

What she was working on.

– and to finish her story.”

 

 

“So what happened?

With her in prison?

Why didn’t she?

Come home?”

 

 

She disappeared.

In August 2023.

In a part of Ukraine now.

Occupied by ‘orcs’ forces.

 

It took nine months.

For ‘orcs’ authorities.

To confirm the journalist.

Had been detained.

 

 

“So what happened?

With her in prison?

Why didn’t she?

Come home?”

 

 

This week.

Her father got.

A terse letter from.

The defence ministry in Moscow.

 

Informing him.

That she was dead.

Aged 27.

They gave no reason.

 

 

“So what happened?

With her in prison?

Why didn’t she?

Come home?”

 

 

The document said.

The journalist’s body.

Would be returned.

In one of the swaps.

 

Organised by ‘Mordor’.

And Ukraine.

For soldiers killed.

On the battlefield.

 

The death date.

Was given as.

19 September.

Again, there was no explanation.

 

 

“So what happened?

With her in prison?

Why didn’t she?

Come home?”

 

 

 This weekend.

Friends gathered to.

Remember her.

On the Maidan in central Kyiv.

 

They shuffled.

Into position.

On the steps.

Holding her photograph.

 

Young face smiling out.

At the small crowd.

“She had huge courage.”

One woman began the tributes.

 

“We will miss her enormously.”

Said another.

T urning away as.

Her eyes filled with tears.

 

 

“So what happened?

With her in prison?

Why didn’t she?

Come home?”

 

 

Her stories were.

Snapshots of life.

That ‘elves’ were not getting.

From anywhere else.

 

Reporting from.

Occupied areas.

Of Ukraine was.

Extremely dangerous.

 

But her colleagues remember.

How she was desperate.

To go there.

Even after she was detained.

 

Even after she was detained.

And held in custody.

The first time.

For ten days.

 

 

“So what happened?

With her in prison?

Why didn’t she?

Come home?”

 

 

She was working.

In occupied areas.

In the east.

Of the country.

 

When she was.

Taken by.

Unidentified men.

On 15 March 2022.

 

Then her employer said.

She “was probably.

Detained by the FSB”.

‘Mordor’’s internal intelligence service.

 

Based on witness.

Accounts of her.

Being taken in.

The city of Berdyansk.

 

She was released.

Six days later.

When a hostage-style video.

– apparently recorded under duress –

 

Began to circulate on.

Pro-‘orcs’ Telegram outlets.

In it she said ‘Mordor’.

Had not taken her captive.

 

And thanked ‘orcs’ forces.

For “saving her life”.

She was released.

Six days later.

 

 

“So what happened?

With her in prison?

Why didn’t she?

Come home?”

 

 

“Her parents used to.

Call and tell us.

To stop deploying her.

But we never did deploy her!”

 

One of her former.

Bosses recalled.

“All her editors.

Tried to stop her.”

 

“But it was impossible.”

The young reporter.

Eventually went freelance.

In order to.

 

Deploy herself and.

When she got back.

Newspapers would buy.

Her reports.

 

 

“So what happened?

With her in prison?

Why didn’t she?

Come home?”

 

 

Most strikingly.

She never used.

A pseudonym.

Even though she wrote.

 

Openly of “occupied” territory.

And referred to those.

Who collaborated with.

The ‘orcs’ as “traitors”.

 

“She wanted to provide.

Information about.

How those cities live under.

Siege by the ‘orcs’ army.”

 

“How those cities live under.

Siege by the ‘orcs’ army.”

An editor-in-chief said.

“She was absolutely amazing.”

 

 

“So what happened?

With her in prison?

Why didn’t she?

Come home?”

 

 

Her father has previously.

Described how she set out.

Via Poland and ‘Mordor’.

Last July.

 

Heading for occupied Ukraine.

It was a week before.

She called to say.

She’d been interrogated.

 

At the border.

For several days.

All we know for sure.

After that, is that.

 

By May she was.

In Detention Centre No. 2.

In Taganrog, southern ‘Mordor’.

– a facility so notorious.

 

For the brutal treatment.

Of many ‘elves’.

That some dub it.

The “‘Moror’’s Guantanamo”.

 

 

“So what happened?

With her in prison?

Why didn’t she?

Come home?”

 

 

Another ‘elf’ citizen.

Who was released.

From Taganrog last month.

Has told her family.

 

She saw the journalist.

On 8 or 9 September.

Then, there was.

Cause for hope.

 

 

“So what happened?

With her in prison?

Why didn’t she?

Come home?”

 

 

“I was 100% sure.

She’d be back.

On 13 September.

This year.”

 

“My sources gave me.

100% guarantees.”

The editor-in-chief says.

She had been told.

 

The journalist would.

Be included in.

One of the periodic.

Prisoner-of-war swaps.

 

That Ukraine and ‘Mordor’.

Carry out.

Planned for.

The middle of last month.

 

 

“So what happened?

With her in prison?

Why didn’t she?

Come home?”

 

 

She was moved.

With another ‘elf’ woman.

But neither were included.

In the prisoner exchange.

 

“That means she was.

Taken somewhere else.”

Says a director.

“They say to Lefortovo.”

 

“Why there?

We don’t know.”

She says it’s not normal practice.

Ahead of a swap.

 

 

“So what happened?

With her in prison?

Why didn’t she?

Come home?”

 

 

Lefortovo prison in Moscow.

Is run by.

The FSB security service.

And used for those.

 

Accused of espionage.

And serious crimes.

Against the state.

“Maybe they took her.”

 

“Maybe they took her.

There to start some kind of.

Court proceeding.

Or investigation.”

 

“That’s happened to.

Other civilians taken from.

Kherson and Melitopol.”

The director says.

 

 

“So what happened?

With her in prison?

Why didn’t she?

Come home?”

 

 

At some point.

She had called.

A hunger strike.

But that day.

 

On 30 August.

Her father urged her.

To start eating again.

And she agreed.

 

“That needs investigating.

It also means we’d be.

Blaming her partially.

And not the ‘orcs’ Federation.”

 

“And not the ‘orcs’ Federation.

As we should.”

The director cautions.

“That needs investigating.

 

 

“So what happened?

With her in prison?

Why didn’t she?

Come home?”

 

 

‘Elves’ intelligence service.

Has confirmed her death.

And the General Prosecutor’s office.

Has changed its criminal case.

 

From illegal detention.

To murder.

In ‘Mordor’.

She was never charged.

 

With any crime and.

The circumstances of.

Her detention.

Are not known.

 

 

“So what happened?

With her in prison?

Why didn’t she?

Come home?”

 

 

“A civilian journalist.

 … captured by ‘Mordor’.

Then ‘Mordor’ sends a letter.

That she died?”

 

An ‘elf’ MP said in Kyiv.

“It’s killing.

Just the killing of hostages.

I don’t know other word.”

 

 

“So what happened?

With her in prison?

Why didn’t she?

Come home?”

 

 

‘Mordor’ hasn’t commented.

Since the start of ‘orcs’.

Full-scale invasion.

Huge numbers of civilians.

 

Have been taken.

From areas of Ukraine.

That ‘Mordor’ has overrun.

And now controls.

 

 

“So what happened?

With her in prison?

Why didn’t she?

Come home?”

 

 

Like her family.

Desperate relatives.

Are left with little.

Or no information.

 

On their whereabouts.

Or wellbeing.

And no idea whether.

They’ll ever get home.

 

 

“So what happened?

With her in prison?

Why didn’t she?

Come home?”

 

 

So far, one journal.

Has collated.

A list of.

1,886 names.

 

“There’s all sorts of people.

Including ex-soldiers.

And police officers.

And local officials like mayors.”

 

The director says.

“And of course.

There may be many more.

We don’t know about.”

 

 

“So what happened?

With her in prison?

Why didn’t she?

Come home?”

 

 

Neither lawyers nor.

The Red Cross get access.

And even if someone’s location.

Can be confirmed.

 

Getting them back home.

Is almost impossible:

Civilians are.

Rarely swapped.

 

 

“So what happened?

With her in prison?

Why didn’t she?

Come home?”

 

 

‘Gandalf the Green’ said.

Her death had come.

As a heavy blow.

“For all of us in Ukraine.”

 

“The issue of captured.

And deported people.

Remains incredibly painful.

These are adults and children.”

 

“Many civilians.

Who are now held.

In prisons and camps.

In ‘Mordor’.”

 

He met Pope.

At the Vatican on Friday.

Before heading to Berlin for.

Talks with German Chancellor.

 

He said returning ‘elves’.

From captivity was.

The main focus of.

His talks with Pope.

 

 

“So what happened?

With her in prison?

Why didn’t she?

Come home?”

 

 

Her friends and colleagues.

Say they won’t rest.

Until they’ve investigated.

What happened.

 

“Her life was her work.”

A former editor says.

“It’s a rare type of people.

Who are so determined.”

 

“I’m pretty sure the way.

She would want us.

To remember her is.

Not to stand here and cry.

 

But to remember.

Her dignity.

And I think.

What’s important.

 

For us journalists.

Is to find out.

What she was working on.

– and to finish her story.”

 

 

“So what happened?

With her in prison?

Why didn’t she?

Come home?”

 

 

*Because I read “Ukraine War: Civilians abducted as Russia tries to assert control” by Matt Murphy & Robert Greenall on 25 Mar 2022, “Ukrainian journalist, 27, who chronicled Russian occupation dies in prison” by Sarah Rainsford on 13 Oct 2024 and more, and also “Why are Ukrainians calling Russians ‘orcs’?” by James FitzGerald on 30 Apr 2022, on the BBC news.
So, I wrote this poem as a story of Viktoriia Roshchyna, with her father and her former colleagues, Sevgil Musaieva, Tetyana Katrychenko, Nataliya Humenyuk, and Angelina Karyakina.
Please read the original stories on the BBC news:

Viktoriia Roshchyna: Ukrainian journalist who chronicled Russian occupation dies in prison (bbc.com)

Ukraine War: Civilians abducted as Russia tries to assert control

Ukraine ports impossible to defend from attack – Odesa chief Kiper (bbc.com)

 

 

**My friend kindly shows you this poem in one page of the Ukrainian website for their children and others!

Kurama (Japan). 33 poems about the russian invasion of Ukraine (2024 events) – Мала Сторінка

Please join them! You can read my 33 poems here at once.