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Photos: A Ukrainian minibus driver’s unexpected tour of duty

Hired driver Alexander Kosenko looks through a broken window of his minibus, hit by shrapnel during fighting between Ukrainian government troops and pro-Russia separatists in Donetsk.

Hired driver Alexander Kosenko looks through a broken window of his minibus, hit by shrapnel during fighting between Ukrainian government troops and pro-Russia separatists in Donetsk.   (Sergei L. Loiko / Los Angeles Times)

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Alexander Kosenko, a civilian minibus driver for a private transportation company, dressed in only a T-shirt and jeans, had expected to be home for dinner with his family by nightfall. Instead, he was racing heavily armed Ukrainian special forces into a dangerous war zone in the country’s fight with pro-Russia separatists.

A Ukrainian minibus driver's unexpected tour of duty

Ukrainian soldiers with the Dnipro-1 militia ride by minibus to Donetsk to take part in the fighting.

  (Sergei L. Loiko / Los Angeles Times)

A Ukrainian minibus driver's unexpected tour of duty

Militia deputy commander Maxim Dubovsky, right, gives instructions to his troops during a short break in the fighting with opposition forces in the village of Peski, on the outskirts of Donestk.

  (Sergei L. Loiko / Los Angeles Times)

A Ukrainian minibus driver's unexpected tour of duty

Ukrainian soldiers take up positions in Peski, where their minibus driver delivered them, in an eye-opening experience for him.   (Sergei L. Loiko / Los Angeles Times)

A Ukrainian minibus driver's unexpected tour of duty

Ukrainian soldier Ivan Kuryata fires a vintage machine gun during an exchange with opposition forces in Peski on Sept. 27. He was killed about a week and half later.

  (Sergei L. Loiko / Los Angeles Times)

A Ukrainian minibus driver's unexpected tour of duty

A Ukrainian soldier kneels next to two local men suspected of being pro-Russia separatists in Peski.  (Sergei L. Loiko / Los Angeles Times)

A Ukrainian minibus driver's unexpected tour of duty

A soldier cleans up in the yard of a deserted house in Peski where the Ukrainian troops spent the night.  (Sergei L. Loiko / Los Angeles Times)

A Ukrainian minibus driver's unexpected tour of duty

Deputy commander Maxim Dubovsky thanks driver Alexander Kosenko for his not quite voluntary work in the war zone after their safe return to Dnipropetrovsk.  (Sergei L. Loiko / Los Angeles Times)

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