- James ‘Jimmy’ Hill died Thursday when he ventured outside a hospital in Chernihiv to find food.
- He was there caring for his sick partner and ‘refused to leave her bedside,’ family say.
- Hill was an American lecturer who grew up in Minnesota and taught in Ukraine and throughout Europe for more than 20 years.
Even as Russian forces massed on the border with Ukraine and the U.S. government urged Americans to leave the country, Jimmy Hill didn’t flee. Instead, he drove even closer to Russian territory in search of treatment for his life partner, who was sick.
James Whitney Hill was killed by Russian artillery fire in Ukraine this week, at least the second American to die there since the invasion began Feb. 24. Before his death, he touched lives around the world through teaching and storytelling, friends and family told USA TODAY. He was 68, said his sister, Katya Hill.
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