Vasilisa Stepanenko is an Associated Press video journalist and correspondent from the eastern city of Kharkiv, Ukraine, whose work focuses on issues of human rights and social justice, especially related to the war in her country. Before the full-scale war she worked for the local television network Simon as a reporter. In the runup to the war, she started working with AP as a freelance video producer, when she realised that it would be crucial – and more difficult than ever – to provide accurate information from eastern Ukraine. They documented the Russian bombing of a maternity hospital, mass graves, and the deaths of children in Mariupol. Since then, she has been reporting breaking news and investigations from around the country. Images from Mariupol helped to make a decision between international leaders to open corridor to save thousands of people's lives according to Mariupol deputy mayor Petro Andrushenko. Stepanenko was also part of the team that investigated Russian torture sites in her native Kharkiv and broadcasted the first international footage of a mass grave in the liberated city of Izium. She still works as a video journalist on the Ukrainian frontlines. Stepanenko did a lot of meetings with young student journalists to share her experience in different universities in NYC, Gdansk, London and her hometown Kharkiv. Stepanenko was the field producer for the documentary 20 Days in Mariupol, which won an Oscar and a Bafta for best Documentary. She earned the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, being one of the youngest Pulitzer Prize winners in the world. She was also selected to the under 30 list of Ukrainian Forbes.