DONETSK, Ukraine — When the gleaming new Donetsk international Airport – named after Russian pianist Sergei Prokofiev – was opened for the 2012 European soccer championship, at a cost of $750 million in state money alone, it was a source of great pride for the locals.Now that it is a burned-out shell, destroyed by fighting, it is a new source of pride to Ukrainians for a different reason.

The soldiers who have defended this airport from incessant attacks from the Russian army and insurgents they support have become nothing short of legendary and are even called “cyborgs” – indestructible half-men, half-machines — by their enemies.