World Press Photo of the Year, the image of the pregnant woman carried away from the ruins of Mariupol wins

Evgeniy Maloletka won the prize World Press Photo of the Year for his photograph that has become a symbol of the bombing of Mariupol: the image dates from the early days of the war in Ukraine and portrays rescue workers carrying a pregnant woman through the ruins outside the hospital. The photo shows Iryna Kalinina, 32, wounded with her left hand on the bloody abdomen: the woman died of her injuries half an hour after giving birth to the lifeless body of her baby named Miron. The prize World Press Photo of the Year is part of the World Press Photo Awards, organized by the Dutch World Press Photo foundation and is awarded to the most iconic photo of the year.

“For me it is a moment that I always want to forget, but I can’t. The story will always stay with me,” Maloletka said in an interview with Guardian. The Osce (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe), with its investigation, established that the hospital of Mariupol was knowingly targeted by the Russian military. The raid caused three deaths and 17 injuries. The jury awarded the Ukrainian photographer because the image managed to communicate “the horror of war for civilians” and praised the photographer for “his resilience while working under immense pressure and great danger”.