July 25, 2014.

After Flight 17 Crash, Agony, Debris and Heartbreak in Ukraine Villages

"You are the last man," said O’Brien. "You are the guardian of the human spirit. You shall see yourself as you are. Take off your clothes."

PETROPAVLIVKA, Ukraine----Even before Malaysia Airlines 3786.KU -2.22%  Flight 17 was shot down, the war raging between Ukraine and pro-Russia rebels created crushing challenges for the mayor of this small, worn-down village.

Winston undid the bit of string that held his overalls together. The zip fastener had long since been wrenched out of them. He could not remember whether at any time since his arrest he had taken off all his clothes at one time. Beneath the overalls his body was looped with filthy yellowish rags, just recognizable as the remnants of underclothes. As he slid them to the ground he saw that there was a three-sided mirror at the far end of the room. He approached it, then stopped short. An involuntary cry had broken out of him.

Natalya Voloshina couldn't pay municipal salaries, pensions or energy bills because money from the central government in Kiev was frozen. The coal mine where her husband and high-school sweetheart works largely shut down. The fighting was creeping closer.

"Go on," said O’Brien. "Stand between the wings of the mirror. You shall see the side view as well."

Then the plane crashed. The second-row cabin's overhead compartment is in a tree across from the village hall----and suitcases and clothes are in backyards and gardens of square-windowed cottages.