Columbia University announced Monday the winners and finalists of the Pulitzer Prizes 2023in which three Ukrainian journalistsMstyslav Chernov, Evgeniy Maloletka and Vasilisa Stepanenko, have been honored for their coverage of the war in Ukraine from Mariupol for the Associated Press, along with journalist Lori Hinnant, recognized with the same award.

The four award-winning journalists covered the siege of Mariupol during the Russian invasion for the Associated Press agency. Maloletka, in particular, took a photograph of a woman injured as a result of the bombing of the maternity hospital which won the World Press Photo of the Year award.

Chernov is also a photojournalist, filmmaker, war correspondent and Ukrainian novelist known for his coverage of the Dignity Revolution or the war in Donbas. For her part, Vasilisa Stepanenko has also been the winner of the ICFJ Award, the George Polk Award and the Royal Television Society Award, for her work as a video producer.

The three Ukrainian reporters were the last international journalists on the ground to document the situation in Mariupol as Russian forces closed in on the city. With journalist Lori Hinnant, also from the Associated Press, the team conveyed the reality captured by their war targets to an international audience, according to the Center for Journalistic Ethics on its website.

The finalists for the Pulitzer Journalism category have been Austin American-Statesman, in collaboration with ‘USA Today Network’ ‘The Washington Post’.