American killed in Ukraine refused to postpone trip to help sick partner

Jimmy Hill, the American who was killed in Ukraine this week, refused to postpone a trip to the country to bring medical treatment to his longtime partner, Irina Teslenko, who has progressive multiple sclerosis, his family said on Saturday.

Katya said the two met while her brother, who taught social work and forensic psychology at universities in various countries, was teaching in Ukraine. They spent years together, talking every day when Hill was in the US.

She said her brother loved Ukraine and friends had helped her piece together that he had decided to stay to be with Teslenko and her mother.

It was initially reported that Hill was shot while waiting in a breadline but his sister said the family had received new details through senators and from friends in Ukraine.

Katya said Hill and a friend went to an area where they heard buses were waiting to evacuate people via a safe corridor. There were more than a thousand in line and he told the friend he would go back to the hospital. The friend told Katya Russian shelling then began, killing her brother.

Most patients had moved to the basement but Teslenko and her mother remained in the upper levels because of the cold and so she could continue the treatment.