The South Carolina Republican was Ukraine’s most influential champion inside President Trump’s mostly ”America First” political orbit . Senator Graham during a news conference after a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in Kyiv on Friday. Credit... Efrem Lukatsky/Associated Press By Robert Jimison The New York Times July 12, 2026 Updated 6:19 p.m. ET original article contains numerous links Hours before his sudden death, Senator Lindsey Graham returned to Washington from his 10th wartime trip to Ukraine. It was the latest visit in a four-year campaign he had waged to persuade Americans, often including his close ally President Trump, to treat that country’s fight against Russia as their own. Since the war began, the South Carolina Republican had been among a small group of senators whose trips to Kyiv had mirrored those often undertaken by senior diplomatic officials within the administration. He met repeatedly with President Volodymyr Zelensky, toured to...
