A Ukrainian teacher set out to visit her parents in Russian-occupied Crimea. She never made it there — and died in Russian custody.

Oleksandra Kazarovytska, a teacher and co-founder of the "Professional" language school in Kharkiv, did not die in Crimea as initially reported. Instead, she died in Russian custody, according to independent Russian news outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe. Her story emerged in early November through posts by her friends and colleagues.

However, those reports were later found to be inaccurate. Oleksandra had lived and worked in Kharkiv since completing her studies and had become a Ukrainian patriot passionate about Ukrainian literature. After Crimea's annexation, she stopped traveling to Crimea and instead visited her parents in Turkey or Georgia. Oleksandra traveled to Crimea to renew her Russian documents, according to her friend Iryna Salnik.

She was detained after authorities discovered a chat on her phone with a volunteer from the start of the full-scale war. Oleksandra was held in solitary confinement for three months and later died in Vladikavkaz, Russia, on October 24. Her body was then taken to Sevastopol, where she was buried on November 3. The Russian version claims she took her own life, but her friends and a Buddhist center in Sevastopol refute this, stating she was found hanging.