Who was Jimmy Hill? Minnesota native killed by Russian sniper in Ukraine

A US citizen who was killed on Thursday by a Russian sniper in the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv has been identified as Jimmy Hill. He is the second American civilian to have died in the Russian-Ukraine war.

The 68-year-old was identified by sister Cheryl Hill Gordon in a post on Facebook.

“My brother Jimmy Hill was killed yesterday in Chernihiv, Ukraine,” Cheryl Gordon wrote.

“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.”

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A State Department spokesperson confirmed the citizen died on Thursday.

“We offer our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss,” the State Department spokesperson said. However, the department did not reveal the identity in the statement.

In a brief phone interview with New York Post, Gordon said another brother of her was notified of Hill’s slaying by the State Department.

Hill – a Minnesota native – had been living in Ukraine and working as a teacher for the past 25 years, she said.

Gordon said that her brother was romantically involved with a former student, Irina, who’s in her 40s. Eight years ago, Irina was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

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The couple was in Chernihiv because “after two years of searching,” Hill found a hospital there with a doctor who “knew much more about MS than other doctors in the area,” she said.

“He finally got her into the hospital in January,” his sister said. “Once the war broke out, he made the decision to stay.”

Hill “was actually trying to get her out of there, but Irina was in poor condition,” she said.

“She would have needed an ambulance to get her out and there was no way to get her out,” Gordon said. “The hospital was running out of food, so he went out to food and that’s how he was killed.”

Last week, an American journalist was killed and another was wounded by Russian forces in the town of Irpin outside the capital of Kyiv as they were traveling to film refugees.

Andriy Nebytov, the head of Kyiv’s regional police force said Sunday that Brent Renaud, a 50-year-old filmmaker, was killed when Russian troops opened fire.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote in a letter to the victim’s family that Renaud “lost his life while documenting human tragedy, devastation and suffering of the millions of Ukrainians.”

More than 700 civilians – including 52 children – have been killed in Ukraine since Russia launched its offensive three weeks ago, but the “actual number is likely much higher,” U.N. political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the Security Council on Thursday, according to Reuters.