Russian drones strike buildings
Oscar hailed as reminder of the horrors of the war
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine awoke Monday to another day of war — Russian drones blasted buildings in the Kharkiv and Odesa regions — but also the news it had won its first Oscar.
The best documentary victory for Mstyslav Chernov’s “20 Days in Mariupol,” a harrowing first-person account by The Associated Press journalist of the early days of Russia’s invasion in 2022, was bittersweet.
“This is the first Oscar in Ukrainian history, and I’m honored,” an emotional Chernov said Sunday at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles. “Probably I will be the first director on this stage to say I wish I’d never made this film, I wish to be able to exchange this to Russia never attacking Ukraine.”
Back home in his native Ukraine, the award was applauded for exposing the brutal devastation of the war and the message Chernov had sent to the world from one of the biggest stages.
“I really liked what the director said during the award acceptance, that it would have been better if he hadn’t made this film and if all of this hadn’t happened,” said Oleksii Kurka, a Kyiv office worker.
“The fact that Ukraine received its first Oscar, and that the world will see again the horrors that the Russian army committed in Mariupol, is certainly a victory of truth over falsehood,” he added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the award as “important for our entire country” and said he was grateful to the team and thanked journalists across the world still covering the war despite a decrease of attention as it has dragged into its third year and as much of the world’s focus has turned to Israel’s war against Hamas.
“The horrors of Mariupol must never be forgotten,” he said on social media. “The entire world must see and remember what the inhumane
Russian invasion brought to our people. Cities and villages were destroyed, homes were burned, and entire families were killed by Russian shells and buried in their own backyards.”
The AP team of Chernov, photographer Evgeniy Maloletka and producer Vasilisa Stepanenko arrived an hour before Russia began bombing the port city.
Two weeks later, they were the last journalists working for an international outlet in the city, sending crucial dispatches to the outside world showing civilian casualties of all ages, the digging of mass graves, the bombing of a maternity hospital and the sheer extent of the devastation.
The Oscar — and nomination — was a first for both Chernov, an AP video journalist, and the 178-yearold news organization.
The documentary was a joint production of AP and PBS’ “Frontline.” It was the first win for “Frontline” after two previous nominations.
Statuettes were awarded to Chernov, producer and editor Michelle Mizner and producer Raney Aronson-rath.
Ukraine’s human rights chief Dmytro Lubinets praised the documentary for showing “the truth to the whole world.”