Key points:
- The Ukraїner publishing house has released “The Siege of Mariupol,” a book by photojournalist Yevhen Maloletka.
- The book features photographs and the author’s personal accounts of the first weeks of the Russian invasion in 2022.
- Writer Myroslav Laiuk served as the book’s literary editor.
- The book’s content complements the context of the documentary film “20 Days in Mariupol.”
- Yevhen Maloletka was one of the few Associated Press journalists who documented the siege from the inside.
The Ukraїner publishing house has presented a book by photojournalist Yevhen Maloletka titled “The Siege of Mariupol.” The publication is based on unique materials that the author and his colleagues gathered in the blockaded city during the first twenty days of the full-scale Russian invasion. Footage and testimonies from that period previously formed the basis for Mstislav Chernov’s Oscar-winning documentary “20 Days in Mariupol.”
The new book includes Maloletka’s photographs taken in February and March 2022, as well as his personal reflective essays. Writer and documentary filmmaker Myroslav Laiuk, known for his collection of reports “Bakhmut,” worked on the literary editing of the publication. The book explores the theme of a documentary filmmaker’s professional responsibility and the challenges photographers face when documenting war crimes in active combat zones.
The author describes events on the streets, in basements, and in hospitals across Mariupol, focusing on human stories amid the horrors of war. A team of Associated Press journalists—comprising Yevgen Maloletka, Mstislav Chernov, and Vasilisa Stepanenko—remained the only representatives of the international media in the besieged city. They managed to leave via the “green corridor” only on the twentieth day, taking with them the footage they had captured, which is now part of world history and the evidence base for crimes against humanity.
The publisher emphasizes the importance of this work as a tool for preserving the memory of one of the most dramatic episodes of modern times. The publication documents moments of birth and death, highlighting the strength of the human spirit against a backdrop of destruction. The project has become an important step in the literary documentation of events that have already changed the global community’s perception of the war in Ukraine.
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