AP image of Mariupol hospital attack wins World Press Photo

Evgeniy Maloletka won the World Press Photo of the year for his harrowing image of emergency workers carrying a pregnant woman through the shattered grounds of a maternity hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol

Associated Press photographer Evgeniy Maloletka won the World Press Photo of the year on Thursday for his harrowing image of emergency workers carrying a pregnant woman through the shattered grounds of a maternity hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, in the chaotic aftermath of a Russian attack.

The Ukrainian photographer’s March 9, 2022, image of the fatally wounded woman, her left hand on her bloodied lower left abdomen, drove home the horror of Russia’s brutal onslaught in the eastern port city early in the war.

The 32-year-old woman, Iryna Kalinina, died of her injuries a half hour after giving birth to the lifeless body of her baby named Miron.

“For me, it is a moment that all the time I want to forget, but I cannot. The story will always stay with me,” Mr. Maloletka said in an interview ahead of the announcement.

“Evgeniy Maloletka captured one of the most defining images of the Russia-Ukraine war amid incredibly challenging circumstances. Without his unflinching courage, little would be known of one of Russia’s most brutal attacks. We are enormously proud of him,” said AP Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Julie Pace.

AP Director of Photography J. David Ake added: “It’s not often that a single image becomes seared into the world’s collective memory. Evgeniy Maloletka lived up to the highest standards of photojournalism by capturing the ‘decisive moment,’ while upholding the tradition of AP journalists worldwide to shine a light on what would have otherwise remained unseen.”

Mr. Maloletka and AP video journalist Mystyslav Chernov, who also is Ukrainian, arrived in Mariupol just as Russia’s February 24 invasion sparked Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II. They stayed for more than two weeks, chronicling the Russian military pounding the city and hitting hospitals and other civilian infrastructure. An AP investigation found that as many as 600 people may have been killed when a Mariupol theater being used as a bomb shelter was hit on March 16 last year.