The horrifying reason why the Russians removed the brain and throat of the Ukrainian journalist who was captured while reporting on the war is revealed

Russia returned the body of an award-winning Ukrainian journalist with her eyes, brain and part of her larynx missing in an attempt to cover up the horrific abuse she was subjected to, officials in Kiev have claimed.

Prisoner of war Viktoria Roshchyna, 27, was held in occupied Ukraine and tortured by Vladimir Putin's brutal regime, the Telegraph reports.

The body bag in which she was sent home marked the corpse as an 'unidentified male'.

DNA testing confirmed that the body – with a shaved head and a broken collarbone – was Roshchyna's.

Ukraine said these crude steps were most likely taken to 'hide evidence of how she was ultimately killed'.

There were 'numerous signs of torture and cruel treatment,' the representative of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office, Yuriy Bielousov, said of her body.

But while they found evidence of torture, they were unable to determine an official cause of death as her body had been mummified.

Ukrainian investigators found burn marks on her legs, most likely traces of electric shock, and a broken rib, independent news outlet Important Stories reported.

She had disappeared into Putin's criminal hell in 2023, during a reporting mission inside the occupied territories of Ukraine.

"The larynx can be important evidence in drowning cases," an expert told the media.

"When a person drowns, the hyoid bone [in the neck] is often broken. Hemorrhages can be found in the whites of the eyes, and lack of oxygen can be detected in the brain," the expert added.

The former prisoner of war held in Roshchyna – who worked for the digital media outlet Hromadske TV and other media outlets – said she was detained in Energodar in the summer of 2023 and three days later transported to Melitopol, where she was held captive for four months and subjected to torture.

From there, she went to Taganrog's SIZO-2 – likened to a concentration camp – in critical condition. She had a fever, her periods had stopped, and she was suffering from abdominal pain.

However, she defied her captors again, telling the guards: "You are invaders, you have come to our country, you have killed our people. I will never cooperate with you." /Telegraph/