Yevhen Maloletka’s Photo Wins World Press Photo 2026

A photograph taken after a massive strike on Kyiv by Ukrainian photographer Yevhen Maloletka has won at the international World Press Photo 2026.

According to UP Culture, this was reported on the competition’s official website.

On April 9, the names of 42 regional winners were announced. Yevhen Maloletka won in the “Europe” category.

The photographer captured the image following a large-scale Russian strike on Kyiv on April 24, 2025. The photo shows 65-year-old Valeriia Syniuk sitting near her home, which was damaged by a Russian airstrike. That day, at least 12 people were killed in Kyiv and around 87 were injured. The attack affected 54 apartment buildings, with 723 apartments damaged to varying degrees.

Another photograph among the winners depicts a Ukrainian soldier with the call sign “Trader” from the Achilles battalion. He is preparing FPV drones for combat missions in the Kharkiv region. The image was captured by American photojournalist David Guttenfelder.

The international World Press Photo competition was founded in 1955 in Amsterdam. It recognizes the best works highlighting major global events, as well as social and environmental issues. The winners form an exhibition that is shown annually in more than 45 countries.

The finalists and the main winner of World Press Photo of the Year 2026 will be announced on April 23.

Yevhen Maloletka has been working on the front line since 2014. He is a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, the Taras Shevchenko National Prize, and a World Press Photo winner in the Photo of the Year category for his image from a maternity hospital in Mariupol.

“I want the world to also hear the voices of the people we photographed, because all those voices of Mariupol still live on in people.”

“It is very important to remind people and not let them forget, because memory is very short. I know people try to push away negative memories, but this is our history, and through loss and pain we must become stronger and move forward,” said Yevhen Maloletka.

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Yevhen Maloletka, together with Mstyslav Chernov and Vasylisa Stepanenko, went to Mariupol. They became the last journalists who remained in the city besieged by Russian forces at the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Later, based on materials that Chernov and a team of photojournalists from Associated Press sent from Mariupol to global media outlets, documenting the devastating events in the city, a documentary film was produced. For this work, they later received the Pulitzer Prize and the Taras Shevchenko National Prize.

The documentary tells the story of the first weeks of fighting in Mariupol, Donetsk region, during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The film 20 Days in Mariupol brought Ukraine a historic victory at the Academy Awards 2024.

Recently, Yevhen Maloletka’s book “The Siege of Mariupol” was published by Ukraïner.

EMPR