A year ago, the international airport in Donetsk was the city's pride and joy, extensively renovated for when the eastern Ukrainian city hosted Euro 2012 soccer tournament matches and named for composer Sergei Prokofiev, the city's favorite son.
Now it lies in ruins.
Months of brutal fighting between government troops and Russian-backed separatists turned the airport into a crucial symbolic prize, despite an ostensible cease-fire. Ukrainian forces became known throughout the country as "cyborgs" as they held on against better-equipped adversaries for months. But when rebels ramped up an offensive last month, they drove them from the airport for good, destroying what remained of it in the process. Photographer Max Avdeev visited the scene of the fighting for BuzzFeed News this week.
