In subsequent years as an AP journalist and war correspondent, Chernov covered the war in Syria and the Battle of Mosul in Iraq as well as the European migrant crisis in Greece, Macedonia, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Austria, and Germany. In 2017, in Mosul, a sniper bullet pierced through Chernov's camera and stuck in his ballistic vest. Chernov's Iraqi videos were finalist entries for Rory Peck Award in 2017 and for Royal Television Society awards in 2017 and 2018.