Russia-Ukraine crisis: US citizen killed in Chernihiv while waiting in bread line, family says

A US citizen who had been caring for his partner in a Ukrainian hospital was killed by Russian fire as he waited in a bread line after briefly stepping out to buy food, his family said on Thursday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed the death of an American, identified by his sisters as Jimmy Hill and mourned as “the helper that people could find in a crisis”.

One of his sisters, Katya Hill, told CNN he had stayed in the hospital in Chernihiv, the site of heavy Russian bombardment, to be alongside his Ukrainian partner as she battled multiple sclerosis.

“As things were deteriorating in the city ... my brother was the one that was going out to the store to bring back what food he could find,” she told CNN.

Another of his sisters, Cheryl Hill Gordon, wrote on Facebook that her brother was waiting in a bread line with several others on Wednesday when they were gunned down by Russian forces.

Reuters could not independently verify the circumstances of his death. Chernihiv police said an American had been killed by Russian shelling. Blinken did not offer any details.

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That allowed Hill to “hand out chocolates whenever somebody was depressed, or just needed a little encouragement.”