Journalists Yevhen Maloletka and Mstyslav Chernov to receive DW Freedom of Speech Award
Photojournalist Yevhen Maloletka and videojournalist Mstyslav Chernov, who covered events in Mariupol surrounded by russian troops, are to receive the Deutsche Welle Freedom of Speech Award by the German media company, DW reports.
The names of the winners were announced on May 2. Both reporters were awarded the prize for covering the events of the war in Ukraine which russia unleashed on February 24, 2022.
"The works of Mstyslav Chernov and Yevhen Maloletka are hard to comprehend, but what really causes pain is the truth they show: russia attacked Ukraine and its civilian population under a fictitious pretext. Every story has nuances, but the facts can not be refuted. This is exactly what the Kremlin is trying to do: distort the facts and spread false information. The Freedom of Speech award given to Mstyslav Chernov and Yevhen Maloletka commemorates their exceptional courage in opposing propaganda and fake information. It emphasizes that their struggle for human rights and truth is a struggle for democracy and freedom, for all of us, and they are paying a high price for that," said Peter Limburg, CEO of DW.
The mass media representatives faced the beginning of the full-scale war in Mariupol and showed the world how the Ukrainian city lived under siege by russian troops. Chernov and Maloletka arrived in the city on February 24, the day the russian invasion of Ukraine began. They recorded the destruction caused by the shelling of the city, the work of doctors in local hospitals, and numerous civilian casualties. Journalists left Mariupol on March 15, 2022 in a convoy that moved out when a humanitarian corridor opened.
As IMI reported, on March 22, Associated Press correspondent Mstyslav Chernov and photographer Yevhen Maloletka spent 20 days in the beseiged Mariupol and were able to evacuate. Mstyslav Chernov wrote about his stay in Mariupol in his article "20 days in Mariupol: the team that documented the agony of the city."
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