Inside Lindsey Graham’s relentless last days spent fighting for Ukraine and sanctions — WSJ

The late Republican senator, who maintained a highly trusted relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump, spent his final days operating at the peak of his political influence: meeting foreign leaders, pushing for a muscular U.S. foreign policy, and scheduling major July 12 news appearances.

According to his colleagues, upon returning to Washington on July 11, Graham was deeply exhausted yet highly satisfied following a grueling sequence of diplomatic meetings across Europe and Ukraine.

Graham spent his 71st birthday on July 9 traveling, energized by the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkiye, where President Donald Trump spoke favorably of the Alliance and voiced solid backing for Ukraine, the publication noted.

Crucially, a revised version of a sweeping anti-Russian sanctions bill finally won the backing of the White House.

For months, Graham had tried to persuade Congress and the White House to back the legislation aimed at ramping up pressure on Moscow. He saw the NATO summit — attended by Trump, key administration officials, and European leaders — as a prime opportunity to lock in tougher measures.

Following a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the American leader highly praised Ukraine's combat capabilities. Trump's statements stood in sharp contrast to last year's tense meeting, the newspaper noted.

The publication highlighted that lawmakers and European officials present at the summit pointed out that this meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy validated the strategy chosen by the Republican senator — to play the long game, quietly supporting Ukraine behind the scenes despite Trump’s vacillations between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian stances.

On July 9, Graham flew out of Turkiye to embark on yet another visit to Ukraine. To reach Kyiv, he had to take a train from Poland — a journey that lasted about 10 hours.

When Zelenskyy met with Graham, they exchanged smiles and shook hands. The Ukrainian president congratulated the senator on his birthday and asked how he was doing. "Older, but not wiser," Graham joked.

That same day, the senator and his colleagues announced they reached an agreement with the Trump administration to advance the revised version of the Russia sanctions bill.

In Kyiv, Graham told reporters that the deal had been struck just 30 minutes earlier.

According to Representative Michael McCaul, keeping Trump engaged in supporting Ukraine was largely Graham's doing. The senator and the president frequently played golf together, which provided ample time to thoroughly discuss geopolitical strategy, McCaul noted.

The passing of Senator Graham

The Republican senator died on the evening of July 11 following a sudden deterioration in his health, his office reported. NBC News reported that emergency services received a call on Saturday evening [July 11] regarding a heart attack at Graham's home on Capitol Hill.

According to medical examiners and official statements from the politician's team, the cause of death was an aortic dissection brought on by atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

The official cause will be formally announced upon the conclusion of toxicological and microscopic analyses.

On July 10, the 71-year-old senator was on an official visit to Ukraine, where he met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He was a consistent and staunch champion of Ukraine.

Lately, Graham had been driving the legislative push for new sanctions against Russia, announcing on July 10 that senators had successfully clinched a deal with the White House on a new version of the document.