After battle, frostbite in the ruins of Ukraine's Donetsk

A Ukrainian army armoured vehicle, destroyed in fighting with the separatist self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic army, lies outside a terminal at Donetsk airport March 3, 2015. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

DONETSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Former crane-operator Alexander Zubko staggers along the dark hospital corridor leaning on a stick. He survived when a mortar bomb hit his house but lost his toes to frostbite after sleeping in the snow-covered rubble.

Zubko, 57, saw the war in East Ukraine at its worst.