Former Sen. Lindsey Graham solidified his reputation as a foreign policy-focused presence in Congress with a bookend visit to Ukraine, where he spent part of his final day.
Graham made his 10th wartime visit to Ukraine in the days before his death, meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday. He also toured a secret drone factory shortly before his departure, an event first reported on Saturday. The senator departed Kyiv on Saturday, then died several hours after returning home.
Zelensky paid tribute to Graham, saying he was “deeply saddened” by the news, and hailing him as a “true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer.”
“He visited Ukraine ten times during the years of Russia’s full-scale invasion and was here with our people when it was most needed. We remained in constant dialogue, and I will miss our conversations. We met twice in just the past week,” he continued, praising his contributions to pushing through bipartisan support for Ukraine in the Senate.
“America and the world have lost a determined leader,” Zelensky added.
Zelensky wasn’t the only Ukrainian official to remember Graham, as tributes poured in from officials around the country. Ukraine’s biggest supporters abroad sent their tributes too, focused around his commitment to Ukraine.
“Senator Graham fought until the very end to support Ukraine’s fight for freedom and raise the cost of Russia’s war of aggression. He worked tirelessly to strengthen sanctions, in close coordination with the EU. A determined and fearless leader. He will be deeply missed,” European Union Commissioner Ursula Von Der Leyen said in a statement.
The South Carolina Republican was one of the most important voices supporting Ukraine, as he was a rare Republican hawk who had won the affection of President Donald Trump. He was key in swaying Trump to take a more sympathetic stance towards Ukraine during his second administration, helping to push through more U.S. support over the past year.
His legislative record also bears out his focus on foreign affairs; according to GovTrack.us, 53% of the bills he sponsored throughout his 23 and a half years in the Senate were about international affairs or the armed forces and national security. Iran, Russia, and China were the three biggest targets of his often hawkish bills. His involvement in foreign affairs had made him as diverse a collection of allies as he had enemies, including Israel, the Iranian opposition, the Kurds, Ukraine, Taiwan, and China’s Uyghurs.
Graham’s interventionist stance was exemplified in his comprising one of the pillars of the “Three Amigos,” a group of three senators including himself, former Sen. John McCain, and former Sen. Joe Lieberman. The trio was a key institutional presence in the Senate of the interventionist camp in Congress, frequently taking trips to combat zones and areas of international tension.
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At the time of his death, Graham was also the most distinguished, longest-term foe of Iran in the Senate, and arguably Congress in general. He was a vocal advocate of a preemptive bombing campaign against Iran for over 15 years, a wish he was finally granted on Feb. 28. Iranian media openly reveled in his death, with threats against him having featured in rallies just days before.
Graham’s death severs the last major institutional link in the Senate connecting the old Reaganite interventionist branch of the Republican Party with Trump’s MAGA movement, which is typically skeptical of interventionism.