World Press Photo award goes to Yevhen Maloletka for photograph showing aftermath of airstrike at Mariupol Maternity Hospital

The photo of the Ukrainian photographer Yevhen Maloletka was recognized as the photo of the year by the international foundation World Press Photo. 

Skidnyi Variant reports, citing the release of the World Press Photo Foundation, that this is the first time a photographer from Ukraine has received the highest award at this competition.

This photograph, chosen as the photo of the year, depicts an injured pregnant woman, Iryna Kalinina, being taken out of a Mariupol maternity hospital damaged by a Russian airstrike on March 9, 2022. The woman died half an hour after giving birth to her son (the child was also stillborn).

Earlier, Rubryka reported that Ukrainian photojournalist Yevhen Maloletka became one of the laureates of the 2023 World Press Photo Award. He was recognized for a series of photographs documenting Mariupol, besieged by the Russian occupiers.

A series called "The Siege of Mariupol" recorded the consequences of the Russian airstrike on the Mariupol maternity hospital on March 9, 2022, mass burials, the moments when Russian shells and bombs struck the city and their victims. Maloletka was among the winners in the Europe category. 

An independent jury selected 24 winners from over 60,000 works of 3,752 photographers from 127 countries of the world.