This Oregon Native Went to Kyiv as a Volunteer. He Died in a Russian Attack.
Fred Grandy, an American artist who made whimsical wooden signs and colorful metal flowers, came to Kyiv because he was devastated that the United States seemed to be turning its back on the war in Ukraine.
He arrived in the Ukrainian capital in late May, close to his 62nd birthday, and volunteered to clean up the rubble left by Russian attacks, family members said.
'He was a person who wanted to make a difference so badly,' said his sister Sietska Reed, 75, who lives near Bend, Ore. 'I talked to him about five days ago, and he told me that he felt he was right where he should be. And he was hoping he could stay for five or six months more and help.'
Instead, Mr. Grandy was one of at least 28 people killed in a large-scale Russian drone and missile attack on Kyiv that started Monday night and stretched into Tuesday, hitting neighborhoods across the Ukrainian capital. The nine-hour onslaught was one of the largest such attacks of the war.
Emergency workers were still pulling bodies from the rubble on Wednesday, and damage was reported at more than two dozen sites. Most victims died in a nine-story apartment building in western Kyiv that was practically leveled. The Russian Defense Ministry, which regularly denies killing Ukrainian civilians, said the strikes achieved their objectives and hit 'all designated objects.'
Russian air assaults have intensified in recent weeks, dimming already faint hopes for a cease-fire.
Over 13,300 Ukrainian civilians have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, according to the United Nations, although the actual toll is likely much higher. But it is rare for a foreign civilian to be killed in a missile or drone attack. Mr. Grandy appears to be the first American civilian killed in an aerial strike in Kyiv.
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