First Lady Zelenska on Ukraine’s first Oscar win: "We paid a terrible price for this award" but victory "is overwhelming"

This was emphasized by First Lady Olena Zelenska of Ukraine, who took to social media to congratulate Mstislav Chernov, the director of 20 Days in Mariupol, a documentary that just won the Academy award. She also congratulated photojournalist Yevhen Maloletka and producer Vasylisa Stepanenko

"The first Ukrainian Oscar goes for the 20 Days in Mariupol documentary. It is an overwhelming victory for the whole country because, first of all, the truth has won," Zelenska said.

She noted that just a few days ago marked two years since the Russians dropped a deadly bomb on the maternity hospital in Mariupol, two years of them trying to cover up the terrible crime they committed against the whole city and against humanity.

"Thank you, Mstislav Chernov, Yevhen Maloletka, and Vasylisa Stepanenko, for telling the truth to the whole world. We paid a terrible price for this award. However, today everyone in Ukraine is proud of you!" the First Lady emphasized.

On the X social media platform, Zelenska wrote: "Mariupol will always have a special place in our hearts, and now in the history of cinema too. "The Oscar for 20 Days in Mariupol gives us confidence that there is justice."

As Ukrinform reported earlier, for the first time in the history of Ukrainian cinematography, a Ukrainian film received an Academy award. 20 Days in Mariupol, directed by Mstislav Chernov, won the Oscar in the Best Documentary nomination.

This film was produced in cooperation with the Associated Press and American documentarians from Frontline. The film was shot in the first days of the siege of Mariupol by Russian invasion forces.

The film, telling about the siege of the city that started on February 24, 2022, is the directorial debut of war correspondent, photographer, videographer, and writer Mstislav Chernov. Photographer Yevhen Maloletka and producer and journalist Vasylisa Stepanenko were also involved in the production. They earlier received the Pulitzer Prize for their work in Mariupol.

In addition, Maloletka, Chernov, and Stepanenko became laureates of the Shevchenko Prize for a series of journalistic works about the siege of Mariupol (reports, photo and video reports, investigations, and the 20 Days in Mariupol documentary).