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Ukrainian defenders lose Donetsk airport

On the outskirts of Donetsk, Maxim Bugel, left, a Ukrainian platoon commander, talks to a survivor of the airport siege.

On the outskirts of Donetsk, Maxim Bugel, left, a Ukrainian platoon commander, talks to a survivor of the airport siege.  (Sergei L. Loiko / Los Angeles Times)

For 242 days, they had held out against separatists who bombarded them from beyond the runways and prowled above and below them in the wreckage of a terminal at the airport in Donetsk, Ukraine. Finally, last week, the Ukrainian soldiers fled. The battle had been lost.

Returning the dead for burial

The body of a Ukrainian soldier killed in the battle awaits evacuation at a base on the outskirts of the city.   (Sergei L. Loiko / Los Angeles Times)

Armed forces chief

Viktor Muzhenko, Ukraine’s army chief of staff, oversees the operation near the airport.   (Sergei L. Loiko / Los Angeles Times)

Leaving the dead

Ukrainian soldiers walk past the body of a pro-Russia separatist near the airport.  (Sergei L. Loiko / Los Angeles Times)

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Army headquarters

A captured and wounded pro-Russia separatist lies on a stretcher inside Ukrainian army headquarters near the airport.   (Sergei L. Loiko / Los Angeles Times)

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