A Marine veteran was killed last week in an eastern Ukrainian city where the country's military has been locked for months in intense fighting with Russian forces, according to multiple sources.
Cooper “Harris” Andrews, 26, was killed in Bakhmut, where he was ambushed by Russian forces while defending evacuees, journalist Jake Hanrahan tweeted Sunday on Twitter. Hanrahan said Andrews was killed alongside other “fighters” and was a member of Popular Front, a grassroots conflict journalism platform.
CNN, citing Andrews' mother, reported Monday that he was hit by a mortar on what Ukrainians call the “Road of Life” because it is used to resupply its forces and evacuate civilians. The State Department, when reached by Military.com, would only confirm the death of a U.S. citizen in Ukraine.
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“We are in touch with the family and providing all possible consular assistance,” a spokesman for the State Department said in an email. The department said it had nothing further to add “out of respect for the family's privacy during this difficult time.”
An organization calling itself “The Black Headquarter” said that Andrews was one of its members and that it would “always remember him as a brave fighter and a reliable comrade” in an Instagram post Sunday.
The group said Andrews joined them after initially being a member of Ukraine's International Legion….
