Ukrainians crowd under a destroyed bridge as they try to flee by crossing the Irpin River on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine on March 5, 2022. The image was part of a series of images by Associated Press photographers that was awarded the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography. Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press

Emilio Morenatti

The Associated Press was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography on Monday in recognition of 15 searing images that rendered in real-time the devastating human toll of the war in Ukraine. It was one of two prizes won by AP — the other was for public service journalism about the siege of Mariupol, Ukraine.

The winning package of breaking news photography included an image of emergency workers carrying a pregnant woman – who later died -- through the shattered grounds of a maternity hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in the chaotic aftermath of a Russian attack.

Another showed Russia’s brutal monthlong occupation of Bucha in a chilling still-life -- a dog standing next to the body of an elderly woman who has been killed.

And another captured an elderly woman kneeling in agony next to the coffin of her son in the cemetery of Mykulychi, on the outskirts of Kyiv.

While AP photographers made countless images of horrifying, haunting and heartbreaking scenes of war, they also stood witness to courageous acts by soldiers and ordinary people.

A woman walks amid destroyed Russian tanks in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine on April 3, 2022. The image was part of a series of images by Associated Press photographers that was awarded the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography. Rodrigo Abd/Associated Press

Rodrigo Abd

A man runs with items recovered from a burning shop following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine on March 25, 2022. The image was part of a series of images by Associated Press photographers that was awarded the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography. Felipe Dana/Associated Press

Felipe Dana