Marine vet Cooper ‘Harris’ Andrews killed in Ukraine

A 26-year-old US Marine veteran was killed on the outskirts of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut while trying to help civilians escape the carnage last week, according to his family and colleagues.

Cooper “Harris” Andrews, from Cleveland, Ohio, was hit by a mortar shell, likely on April 19, his mother, Willow Andrews, told CNN, bringing the number of US citizens killed since the outbreak of the war in February 2022 to at least nine.

Andrews worked for an anti-authoritarian collective called the Resistance Committee, which confirmed that he was killed helping evacuate civilians from the battle-ravaged city in eastern Ukraine.

As of Monday, Andrews’ body has not been recovered due to the intense fighting continuing in the area.

Bakhmut, dubbed a “meat grinder,” has seen some of the bloodiest battles of the war between the city’s Ukrainian defenders and Moscow’s forces that have spent months desperately trying to capture it.

Andrews left his hometown in November and signed up with the International Legion in Ukraine, which is comprised of people from around the world fighting alongside Kyiv’s regulars.

His contract with the organization reportedly ran out in March, but his mother said he decided to stay in Ukraine as a volunteer.

Previously, Andrews served in the Marine Corps from 2017 to 2022 as a ground electronics transmission systems maintainer, according to an official service record provided to the military news site Task & Purpose.

Independent journalist Jake Hanrahan described Andrews in a tweet as “a good man and a kind soul.” He also shared a photo that the 26-year-old Marine veteran had sent to a friend, showing him brandishing a sledgehammer while puffing on a cigarette.

In a message that accompanied the selfie, Andrews wrote: “If I am martyred remember me with my hammer.”

Without naming Andrews, the US Department of State said Monday that it could “confirm the death of a US citizen in Ukraine.”

“We are in touch with the family and providing all possible consular assistance,” a State Department spokesperson said.

News of Andrews’ death comes just weeks after it was revealed that two American military veterans, Edward Wilton, 22, and Grady Kurpasi, 50, have been killed in action in Ukraine.

Like Andrews, Wilton, from Marianna, Florida, was killed by enemy soldiers while helping defend Bakhmut on April 7.