Ukrainian photojournalist Evgeniy Maloletka was awarded the Visa d’Or. The award is for telling the world through the eyes of the camera the scenes of Mariupol, which was destroyed by the Russian attack. One of the most prestigious achievements is the Visa d’Or award.
At the awards ceremony in the southern French city of Perpignan, Maloletka said she was dedicating her award to the people of Ukraine. Maloletka, 35, who works for the Associated Press Agency, was one of the first journalists to enter Mariupol an hour before the first Russian bomb fell.
He was the last to say goodbye to the city, which was completely destroyed by Russian shelling. “It was like a long, never-ending day, and every day the situation got worse and worse,” he told AFP of the 20 days he spent there. His paintings captured the full horror of the conflict.
The world saw the children killed during the war, the pregnant women lying in the rubble of the destroyed buildings, and the hastily dug mass graves all through this photojournalist. The world condemned Russia’s bombing of the port city of 400,000, particularly on a maternity hospital. The war in Ukraine was one of the dominant themes at the International Festival of Photojournalism, which opened on August 27.
Story Highlights: Ukrainian Wins Top Photojournalism Prize For Work During Siege Of Mariupol