INTERVIEW - 'When Russia starts a fake campaign against your photo, you know it's good'

Evgeny Maloletka, a photographer who has become synonymous with documenting the brutal realities of the war in Ukraine, speaks with a quiet intensity about his experiences. Having spent twenty days in the besieged city of Mariupol at the outset of the Russian invasion, Maloletka captured images that have circled the globe, serving as stark evidence of the atrocities committed by Russian forces. His work has not only garnered international recognition, including a second World Press Photo Award, but has also led him to write a book detailing that harrowing period.

“

The war is part of my life. And it's not just four years, but twelve years. The war began for us in 2014 with the Russian occupation of Crimea and the fighting in the Donbass. It is very exhausting to concentrate on the war every day as a photographer. I have regular nightmares. But I try to lead a normal life. It is a marathon: I have to maintain energy, stay in good mental health.

Maloletka acknowledges the profound psychological toll of his profession. "The war is part of my life. And it's not just four years, but twelve years," he states, referring to the conflict's origins in 2014. He admits to experiencing regular nightmares but strives to maintain a semblance of normal life, viewing his work as a marathon requiring sustained energy and good mental health. This dedication is evident in his description of the iconic photograph taken at a Mariupol maternity hospital on March 9, 2022. He recounts arriving with colleagues to find the hospital repeatedly bombed, a deliberate attack on a civilian facility.

“

On March 9, 2022, my video colleagues Mstyslav Chernov and Vasilisa Stepanenko and I arrived at a hospital that had been repeatedly bombed by the Russian army. It was an attack on a maternity clinic, Putin's war was already massively directed against the civilian population at that time. We had to capture this as proof. I saw how rescuers and police officers carried the pregnant Irina out of the rubble. And pressed the shutter button.

The photograph in question, showing a heavily injured, pregnant Irina Kalinina being carried from the rubble by rescuers, was immediately recognized for its dramatic significance. Maloletka and his team swiftly transmitted the images, aware of the gravity of the situation. "We understood immediately how dramatic the situation was, and we transmitted the photos as quickly as possible to our agency," he explained. Tragically, Kalinina and her unborn child succumbed to their injuries the following day. Russia's subsequent attempts to label the image as fake underscore the information warfare that accompanies the physical conflict, a reality Maloletka confronts daily. He notes, "When Russia starts a fake campaign against your photo, you know it's good."

“

We understood immediately how dramatic the situation was, and we transmitted the photos as quickly as possible to our agency. But I could not foresee that this picture would be on the front pages of almost all major international newspapers the next day.