An American citizen standing in a bread line has been killed following a blast in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, his sister revealed in a social media post on Thursday.
Cheryl Hill Gordon said her brother James Whitney Hill was gunned down by snipers.
“My brother Jimmy Hill was killed yesterday in Chernihiv, Ukraine,” she posted to Facebook. “He was waiting in a bread line with several other people when they were gunned down by Russian military [snipers]. His body was found in the street by the local police.”
The State Department confirmed to the Washington Examiner earlier Thursday that a U.S. citizen was among those dead but did not identify the person.
A spokesman for the foreign affairs agency said it had been in contact with the family but that “out of respect … we have no further comment.”
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The Chernihiv Region Police reported the news Thursday morning.
“Today, the occupiers once again carried out a heavy artillery attack on unarmed civilian residents in the city,” it posted on Facebook. “There are dead and wounded people. Among the dead — a U.S. citizen.”
The post continued: “Police officers are helping to evacuate affected citizens to medical facilities. Chernihiv police investigators are working at the scene. Law enforcement officers are carefully documenting all the circumstances and consequences of Russian war crimes.”
In the past 24 hours, more than 50 people died in Chernihiv from Russian shelling as Moscow’s bombardment on its Eastern European neighbor entered its fourth week.
Hill had traveled to Ukraine in December for life-extending multiple sclerosis treatment for his wife, Irina, a Ukrainian citizen.
After the invasion began, Hill had been trapped inside a regional hospital with limited food, water, and electricity.
“It’s horribly sad hanging on to a hope and a thread and a dream and getting to the hospital,” family friend Karin Moseley told ABC News 8. “That gives you a little bit of extra hope and then being thrust into literally the middle of hell.”
Though communication with the outside world had been difficult, Hill had managed to post regular updates to Facebook.
His last update was Wednesday at 5 p.m.
“We offer our sincerest condolences to the families of all whose lives have been lost in this unprovoked and unjustified war,” the State Department said.
In February, President Joe Biden said Russia would pay a heavy price if it targeted and killed any Americans.
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Multiple email requests to the White House for comment was not returned.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. Since then, he has been met with heavy pushback from the global community, which has slapped strict sanctions on him, his friends, and the oligarchs tied to him.
