Ukraine and its allies are hoping they can retain their momentum and support in Washington in the coming months despite the untimely death of stalwart ally Sen. Lindsey Graham.
Graham had served as an essential go-between from MAGA world to Kyiv. And he’d been a chief driver of efforts on the Hill to crack down on the Kremlin’s back doors for military help and so-called shadow fleet.
Ukrainian officials insist that they’re picking up where Graham left off — one of his last official acts was to visit Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to brief him on his latest push for legislation to sanction those who buy oil from Russia.
“That’s why we’re actively working with the Trump team and Congress to finally pressure Russia into making peace,” said a top Ukrainian official, who like others interviewed, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations. “Of course, everyone is sad that Graham is dead. But we’re hoping for constructive action from Washington.”
Graham’s death came on the heels of an eleventh-hour breakthrough in talks between members of Congress and the Trump team on language for the late senator’s sanctions bill during NATO’s annual leaders’ summit in the Turkish capital of Ankara. It appeared to be an about-face by the U.S. administration, which had repeatedly sought to water down the bill.
The new language, released Tuesday, limits Trump’s ability to wriggle out of sanctioning Russia during talks, and calls on Trump to name and hit Russian shippers and providers of sensitive military tech, such as sensors and machine tools, with sanctions. However, it also gives Trump wide latitude to waive the application of any sanctions or restrictions.
But as Ukraine faces a hard winter and a shortage of air defense interceptor missiles to stave off Russian missile attacks, it’s not yet clear who will step up as Ukraine’s biggest champion on the Republican side — or whether they’ll have Trump’s ear.
Without Graham on the scene, some of Ukraine’s allies in Washington worry that there would be no one left to help manage Trump’s tempestuous relationship with Zelenskyy, which has been marred by on-camera arguments. Graham was also an essential interlocutor on the minerals deal inked between Washington and Kyiv in 2025.
“Ukraine needs Trump translators because they don’t understand Trump,” said a former Trump administration official. “They lost that. … I think that’s a hindrance.”
Though Graham’s sanctions bill has more than 80 cosponsors, he was the rare Republican in Congress with a line to both Zelenskyy and Trump.
Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) has also advocated for arming Kyiv, but other staunch allies, such as Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), are set to retire. And Democrats such as Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, who co-authored the Russia sanctions bill, have little access to the White House or ability to sway Trump.
“Senator Graham is dead. Senator [Mitch] McConnell is in the hospital. Our most powerful friends,” Oleksandra Ustinova, a member of the Ukrainian parliament from the Holos political party, said in a social media post this weekend.
“Many Republican friends of Ukraine do not want and do not run for reelection, leaving the Senate and Congress. We are losing Ukraine’s best friends who publicly and privately supported and lobbied us,” added Ustinova, who is also head of the Ukrainian parliament’s Monitoring the Receipt and Use of International Military Assistance During Martial Law.
Some in Kyiv fear for the fate of Graham’s sanctions package and are playing through a number of possible scenarios the White House might take to tank the bill. Trump might drag out the negotiations further, or could just decide not to use his leverage against Russia.
“Even if the White House supports killer sanctions, and Senate votes, Trump can drag with signing, especially if Iran is included,” said a person close to the Ukrainian government. “Then he might just not use sanctions, as they just give him permission, but not oblige him to actually impose sanctions.”
Coming off a NATO summit in which Trump mostly complimented European leaders instead of dressing them down with insults, some European officials had hoped that Kyiv’s champions across the Atlantic might be able to keep the U.S. president on message.
One European diplomat said they personally spent long evenings on calls with Graham as he worked over Trump to try to bring more support to Ukraine. He said there are others who could take up Graham’s mantle.
“He’s a loss for sure, we’ll miss him,” the diplomat said. “But there are others who can make the calls. It does make [NATO Secretary General Mark] Rutte more vital.”
Some of Ukraine’s allies in Europe have earned reputations as Trump whisperers. Finnish President Alexander Stubb, a frequent Trump golf partner, has also lobbied Trump to keep up the pressure on Ukraine.
But some of Europe’s mainstays are leaving the political scene. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer may have only days left in the job after resigning last month. French President Emmanuel Macron is term-limited and will leave office next year.
And Trump’s frustration with European allies over their lack of support for the Iran war has led him to cast aside some of his longstanding confidants in NATO, such as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The implications of Graham’s death on U.S policy toward Ukraine “will be the most important issue on every European diplomat’s mind,” said a Washington-based European diplomat. “Senator Graham was a crucial driving force there, and I’m sure he will be missed on that file. Hopefully the person succeeding him will follow that same line.”
Phelim Kine and Alex Gangitano contributed to this report.