{"id":138753,"date":"2026-07-12T22:10:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T04:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ukraine-reels-after-sen-lindsey-grahams-sudden-death-fearing-a-weaker-link-to-trump\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T00:36:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T06:36:59","slug":"ukraine-reels-after-sen-lindsey-grahams-sudden-death-fearing-a-weaker-link-to-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ukraine-reels-after-sen-lindsey-grahams-sudden-death-fearing-a-weaker-link-to-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine reels after Sen. Lindsey Graham\u2019s sudden death, fearing a weaker link to Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"In
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, July 10, 2026. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)<\/span>(Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) \u2014 With the death of Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham<\/a>, Ukraine lost a close ally in President Donald Trump\u2019s<\/a> orbit, leaving its leaders grappling with the implications for their war-torn country.<\/p>\n

Graham had been in Ukraine two days prior, standing in Kyiv\u2019s St. Michael\u2019s Square, flanked by the golden domes of the monastery and the burned-out remains of Russian military equipment.<\/p>\n

There, he offered Ukrainians reason to be optimistic, telling reporters that sweeping new hard-hitting economic sanctions against Russia, legislation he had spent years pushing with Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, were finally within reach. He would be heading back to Washington to meet with bipartisan leaders to advance the proposal.<\/p>\n

Two days later, on Sunday, the world learned of his sudden death<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian officials and lawmakers were devastated by the news. For years, Graham had been one of Kyiv\u2019s closest allies in Washington and a trusted intermediary with Trump, who had a strained relationship with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, officials fear that without Graham, Ukraine\u2019s ability to influence the White House could be diminished across a broad range of issues, not just the fate of the Russia sanctions bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cHuge and absolutely unexpected loss,\u201d said Oleksandr Merezhko, a lawmaker with Zelenskyy\u2019s party. \u201cHe was truly indispensable. I even don\u2019t know who might be as important for us now in Trump\u2019s entourage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was the closest link between Ukraine, our president and Trump,\u201d he added. \u201cOur position in Trump\u2019s entourage might be weaker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy said he had \u2018constant dialogue\u2019 with Graham<\/strong><\/p>\n

Condolences poured in from senior Ukrainian officials including Zelenskyy, who remembered Graham as one of Ukraine\u2019s staunchest champions in Washington and someone who was in constant contact with Kyiv.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy said he was \u201cdeeply saddened\u201d by the senator\u2019s sudden death, noting that Graham had visited Ukraine 10 times since Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion<\/a> and had been with Ukrainians \u201cwhen it was most needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were in constant dialogue and will miss that greatly,\u201d Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram, recalling that the two had met twice last week, at the NATO summit and again during Graham\u2019s visit to Kyiv.<\/p>\n

Parliamentary Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk described Graham as a \u201csteadfast friend of Ukraine\u201d whose support was \u201cprincipled and resolute.\u201d He said he would always remember their \u201cmeaningful, sincere, and warmly personal meetings,\u201d adding that he believed Graham\u2019s efforts to impose tougher sanctions on Russia would be carried forward despite his death.<\/p>\n

With Trump\u2019s return to the White House after the Biden administration, Ukrainian officials moved swiftly to cultivate relationships with Republicans close to him amid growing uncertainty over future U.S. backing. Graham became a central figure in those efforts, lawmakers said at the time.<\/p>\n

Oleksandr Kraiev, a political analyst at the think tank Ukrainian Prism, said Graham was an unusually prominent figure in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\u201cGraham is even more well-known and more popular among Ukrainians than many Ukrainian politicians,\u201d Kraiev said.<\/p>\n

Without Graham, Ukraine could lose an influential advocate with direct access to Trump, Kraiev said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see anyone else who will take the lead in helping Ukraine maintain those necessary connections,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In a break from many Trump supporters, Graham stayed focused on Ukraine <\/strong><\/p>\n

Graham was a political phenomenon now rare in a Republican Party where Trump has absolute control.<\/p>\n

The senator steadfastly held onto more traditional conservative foreign policy values that included staunchly opposing Russia, being especially hawkish on Iran and pushing the White House to even more fully embrace Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Graham also was a vocal supporter of traditional U.S. allies in Europe at a time when Trump threatened to pull American troops off the continent<\/a> and denigrated NATO<\/a> with increasing zeal.<\/p>\n

The senator maintained those views despite them often putting him at odds with many vocal supporters of the isolationism and \u201cAmerica First\u201d approach of the president\u2019s \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d movement.<\/p>\n

Although Trump frequently ridicules Republican members of Congress he perceives as not sufficiently loyal, he remained close to Graham and listened to him, especially on foreign policy matters.<\/p>\n

A powerful voice in the Senate, even Democrats noticed Graham\u2019s independent streak with much of the rest of his party.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe marched to his own drummer,\u201d Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, said in a statement. \u201cHe could be strong-minded, fiercely driven, and sometimes unpredictable, but also deeply compassionate and sympathetic when he saw suffering and injustice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graham\u2019s support of Ukraine bumped up against Trump’s complaints that the U.S. was spending too much money to help the besieged country.<\/p>\n

Still, Graham thought he was close to advancing legislation bolstering economic sanctions against Russia. Blumenthal said he\u2019d spoken to Graham over the weekend and that the South Carolinian was \u201cexulted\u201d about the prospect of moving such a package forward.<\/p>\n

Blumenthal added that the bill should now be passed as a \u201cfitting tribute\u201d to Graham.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Weissert reported from Washington.<\/p>\n

\"U.S.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. answer media questions near damaged Russian tanks exhibition in central Kyiv, Friday, July 10, 2026. (AP Photo\/Efrem Lukatsky)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Efrem Lukatsky)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, July 10, 2026. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)(Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP) KYIV, Ukraine (AP) \u2014 With the death of Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, Ukraine lost a close […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":138755,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5734],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-138753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-associated-press"],"acf":[],"author_name":"Website Administrator","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138753"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138754,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138753\/revisions\/138754"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138753"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=138753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}