Russian Photographer’s Mariupol Collection Shortlisted for Leica Award, Sparking Backlash — UNITED24 Media

Russian photographer Valery Melnikov has been shortlisted for the 2026 Leica Oskar Barnack Award with a photograph sequence documenting the aftermath of Russia’s siege of Mariupol.

The shortlist was published on the official web site of the Leica Oskar Barnack Award.

Melnikov’s sequence, titled Open Wounds, portrays residents of the Ukrainian port and industrial metropolis of Mariupol following Russia’s full-scale invasion.

According to the challenge’s description, the sequence paperwork the humanitarian penalties of the siege that started after Russia launched its invasion in February 2022.

“Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent siege of the city at the end of February 2022, relentless fighting broke out, resulting in numerous civilian casualties. Melnikov’s current documentary project focuses on the unbearable humanitarian consequences of the war for the city’s remaining residents,” the award description states.

The nomination drew criticism from Ukrainian documentary photographer Serhii Korovainyi, who has extensively lined Russia’s warfare in opposition to Ukraine.

In an announcement printed by way of Facebook on June 9, Korovainyi argued that the competitors didn’t acknowledge Russia’s duty for the devastation depicted within the images.

“The competition, by honoring a Russian photographer, provides no context about who killed tens of thousands of civilians in the city, who destroyed it, who inflicted these wounds,” he wrote.

Korovainyi additionally famous that no worldwide media organizations have been granted impartial entry to Russian-occupied Mariupol to supply goal reporting from the town.

“[This is] honouring a propagandist, a resident of the aggressor state,” he acknowledged.

Mariupol stays one of the crucial closely devastated Ukrainian cities following Russia’s full-scale invasion. During the 2022 siege, residents endured weeks with out dependable entry to meals, water, electrical energy, or medical care whereas the town got here underneath steady Russian bombardment.

One of the best-known firsthand accounts of these occasions is Kateryna Savenko’s Diary. For 34 days, Savenko and her household sheltered within the basement of their dwelling as Russian airstrikes and artillery lowered the town to ruins, documenting their each day wrestle for survival all through the siege.

Preliminary estimates by the Mariupol City Council point out that a minimum of 22,000 folks had been killed throughout Russia’s siege of the town, though native authorities imagine the true quantity is probably going a number of occasions increased.

As of 2026, Mariupol stays underneath Russian occupation.

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