Ukrainian journalists Mstyslav Chernov and Evgeniy Maloletka received the DW Freedom of Speech Award at Deutsche Welle's Global Media Forum in Bonn.

Chernov and Maloletka were the last journalists to report from the almost completely destroyed city of Mariupol, now occupied by the Russian army.

In their report "20 days in Mariupol" they described the attacks by the Russian army and the suffering they caused, for example the bombing of a maternity hospital.

The report by AP journalist Chernov and freelance photographer Maloletka appeared in numerous international media outlets.

The prize, said the director of Deutsche Welle, Peter Limbourg, honored the extraordinary courage of the two journalists "to stand up against propaganda and false information".

He appreciates "that their fight for human rights and the truth is a fight for democracy and freedom, for all of us, and they pay a high price for it."

"People panicked"

"Any Ukrainian or international journalist on this stage would gladly give all the awards in the world for preventing the Russian invasion of Ukraine from happening in the first place," said Mstyslav Chernov.

However, the award is an important recognition.

Mariupol “quickly descended into chaos” and “at first we didn’t understand why.

But then we got it.

There was simply no information coming in or out of the city.

People put up signs asking if Kyiv is still standing, if there is Kharkiv, Odessa or Kherson, but there was no information if the relatives are still alive, if the humanitarian corridors are open.

So people panicked.

Sometimes information is more important to people's survival than food.

For him, Evgeniy Maloletka said, the war in Ukraine started eight years ago, when he was working as a photographer during the Euromaidan protests, in Crimea in March 2014, and then in Donbass.

"During the first two years of the war we were in dangerous situations several times, but you can't compare that to what I had to experience this year.

During our 20 days in Mariupol, we witnessed war crimes, airstrikes and atrocities committed by the Russian armed forces against the civilian population.

It was important for me to show the world and our country what is happening there, the fear and pain of Ukrainians.”

He added: "I had seen much human suffering before Mariupol, but never so many children killed in such a short time," and he hopes their work will "come to the thousands who have been killed in a senseless war. will bring justice".

The journalists dedicated the award to their Ukrainian colleagues.

What they did, Chernov said, was “there is nothing out of the ordinary;

it's what every journalist in Ukraine is doing right now.

They're taking the same risks that we took." If journalists in Ukraine weren't doing their job, "this war will always go on."

Chernov and Maloletka return to Ukraine to continue their work.

Every year since 2015, the German company has honored a person or initiative with the Freedom of Speech Award that has done an outstanding job of promoting freedom rights, in particular freedom of the press and freedom of expression.

The first winner was the Saudi blogger and Raif Badawi, who campaigned for freedom of religion in his country.

He was arrested in 2012, sentenced to a thousand lashes, ten years in prison and a fine.

He has now served his sentence, but he is not allowed to leave the country or go to his wife Ensaf Haidar and their three children, who live in exile in Canada.