Ukraine lost one of its most ardent supporters in Washington this weekend with the death of US Senator Lindsey Graham, just hours after he returned from a trip to Kyiv.
Among numerous congratulations from the country on Sunday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko said that “throughout the full-scale Russian invasion, Senator Graham stood by Ukraine and defended democratic values.”
The South Carolina Republican has visited Ukraine 10 times (including his most recent trip last week) since the 2022 invasion and was one of the driving force behind tough sanctions against Russia. But he was also keenly aware of US President Donald Trump’s early hostility towards Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky.
Graham’s support for Ukraine was based on his decades of experience in national security matters and his strong belief in the United States’ broad global role.
Like John McCain, another Republican senator with whom he often traveled, Graham was a strong supporter of the transatlantic alliance. He served in the US Army in Germany for four years before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
In a 2011 interview, Graham said, “I’m a Ronald Reagan Republican. I’d like to shape world events rather than watch the world fall apart. That means you have to be involved.”
Lindsey Graham said he had “never been more optimistic” about ending the war in Ukraine during his last trip to Kyiv.
Lindsey Graham said he had “never been more optimistic” about ending the war in Ukraine during his last trip to Kyiv.
1:18
After Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014, Graham was an early advocate of sending defensive weapons to Ukraine, whose army was then short of almost everything.
A few days after the full-scale invasion began, he caused outrage in Moscow by inviting someone from Putin’s inner circle to kill him. Graham asked if there was a Brutus in Russia, adding: “You would be doing your country—and the world—a great service.”
He later called Putin a “thug and a bully” who will “get away with as much as he can until someone stops him.”
Graham also supported legislation that would prevent the US from recognizing any Russian claim to sovereignty over any part of Ukraine, and supported a proposal to have US troops train Ukrainian units on Ukrainian soil (which never came to fruition).
He also co-sponsored the Ukraine Support Act, which would expand defense transfers and security cooperation.
“We are sending a message to the world that the United States will stand with Ukraine, that their fight is our fight, and that both their freedom and ours are at stake,” he said of the law.
However, the bill never became law.
Graham recognized Trump’s influence on the Republican Party. Last year, Graham said he wanted to be “realistic” about ending the war by allowing Russia to keep some of the territory it has captured.
He also backed Trump’s pressure on NATO allies to spend more. “Trump is right—damn, they should pay more,” Graham said. “And you know, no one else could do it.”
But Graham essentially saw NATO as the backbone of America’s security. He argued that the alliance’s defensive posture makes aggressors “think twice before starting wars.”
“He was a strong defender of America and a strong believer in the NATO alliance,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Sunday.
Over the past 18 months, Graham has navigated the shifting sands of the Trump administration’s approach to Ukraine.
After the disastrous meeting between Trump and Zelensky at the White House last February, Graham even suggested that the Ukrainian president resign. “I don’t know if we will ever be able to do business with Zelensky again,” he said.
But he soon returned to lobbying for Ukraine, calling on Trump to provide Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles and developing a sweeping sanctions package aimed at undermining sanctions against any country importing Russian oil.
The senator returned to Kyiv a few days before his death, where he was warmly greeted by Zelensky, visited a Ukrainian drone factory and again spoke of support for Ukraine.
Hours before his departure, Graham announced that a bipartisan group of senators had reached an agreement with the White House to introduce a new package of sanctions against Russia.
“We have a formula for ending this war,” he said. “Help Ukraine become more lethal. Let those who support Russia know that there will be a price to pay if you continue to do so.”