Feeling the bottom of her rounded belly as she was evacuated, injured, from the devastated maternity hospital in Mariupol, Iryna Kalinina, pale-faced, struggles.
The image, highlighting "
the murder of future generations of Ukrainians
", won the World Press Photo's top prize on Thursday.
"
Miron
", who got his name from the word "
peace
", was stillborn after the Russian airstrike almost two weeks into the invasion of Ukraine.
Half an hour later, his mother, barely 32 years old, also died.
"Deeply painful historical fact"
His photo taken by Evgeniy Maloletka of The Associated Press (AP) '
captures the absurdity and horror of war
' and '
sheds light on the murder of future generations of Ukrainians
', the jury of the most prestigious competition in Ukraine said. photojournalism.
This Ukrainian, who said he arrived an hour before the invasion of Mariupol, was one of the few photographers to document the events there at that time.
“
For 20 days we lived with paramedics in the basement of the hospital and in shelters with ordinary citizens, trying to show the fear Ukrainians lived with,” he said
.
The award-winning image, which shows Iryna Kalinina pregnant, with a bloody leg lying on a stretcher and a red polka-dot blanket "
appears to be a deeply painful historical fact
," the jury said.
Five men seem to be hastening to pull her away from a landscape of devastation.
One of them holds the woman's arm, while black smoke still rises from the wooded terrain bordering the ruined building.
A symbol of Ukrainian resistance, the port city of Mariupol was besieged and bombarded for many weeks by Russian forces at the start of the invasion of Ukraine.
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The strike that targeted a maternity hospital and a pediatric hospital in this city in southeastern Ukraine on March 9, 2022 immediately aroused strong emotion and condemnation around the world.
At first, Russia denied responsibility for the attack on the hospital, which left three people dead and some 17 injured.
Mariupol finally fell in May 2022 after fierce resistance.
According to kyiv, it was 90% destroyed and at least 20,000 people died there.
The European Union had described its siege as a “
major war crime
”.
By giving a platform to the image, the jury “
hopes that the world will stop and recognize the intolerable realities of this war and reflect on the future of Ukraine
”.
The work of the winner and other award-winning photographers will be exhibited from April 22 in Amsterdam, where the foundation is based, before being shown around the world