KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — One of Ukraine's largest drone strikes on Russia killed at least four people, including three near Moscow, and wounded a dozen others, local authorities said Sunday. Debris fell on Russia's largest airport without causing damage.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the drone strikes, saying that they were “entirely justified.” Russia has repeatedly launched similar attacks on Ukraine's capital and other cities during the war, and an expert said that the strikes appeared to be retaliation for recent Russian attacks on Kyiv.
Russian drone strikes on Ukraine overnight wounded eight people, Ukrainian authorities said.
In Ukraine's strikes on Russia, a woman was killed after a drone hit her home in Khimki, a Russian city just northwest of Moscow, and two men died in the village of Pogorelki, which is 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of the capital, according to local Gov. Andrei Vorobyev.
Ukrainian drones had also damaged unspecified “infrastructure” and several high-rise buildings, Vorobyev said on social media.
One man was also killed after a drone struck a truck in the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, according to local authorities.
In Moscow itself, at least 12 people were wounded in the nighttime strike, mostly near the entrance to the city’s oil refinery, mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported. Sobyanin reported that the “technology” of the refinery hadn't been damaged.
Hours later, the Indian Embassy in Moscow reported that an Indian worker died in a drone strike “in (the) Moscow region,” while three other Indian nationals were hospitalized with injuries. It wasn't immediately clear whether the worker was one of the three people reported dead by Moscow region officials, or a further fatality.
Russia’s largest airport — Moscow’s Sheremetyevo — said that drone debris had fallen on its grounds without causing damage or affecting flights.
Russian defenses shot down 81 drones headed for Moscow overnight, state agency Tass reported, citing Sobyanin, marking one of the largest attacks on the city since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
Russian air defenses overnight destroyed 556 drones over Russia, the occupied Crimean Peninsula and the Azov and Black Seas, the Russian Defense Ministry said Sunday morning. Shortly after midday local time, it reported that more than 1,000 drones had been shot down or jammed in the previous 24 hours.
Zelenskyy said that the drones had flown more than 500 kilometers (310 miles) from Ukrainian territory, and that Ukraine was “overcoming” Russian air defense systems concentrated in and around the capital.
“Our responses to Russia’s prolongation of the war and attacks on our cities and communities are entirely justified. This time, Ukrainian long-distance sanctions have reached the Moscow region, and we are clearly telling the Russians: their state must end its war,” Zelenskyy said.
Nigel Gould Davies, senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London-based think tank, said that Ukraine's large-scale attack appeared to be “the retaliation or revenge that President Zelenskyy promised after the fierce attacks that Russia carried out on Kyiv.”
Those strikes came immediately after the end of a brief ceasefire that allowed Russia to hold its annual Victory Day parade on May 9 commemorating the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany during World War II.
Russia and Ukraine accused each other of repeatedly violating the pause in hostilities.
“It brings home the fact Ukraine has the capacity to strike at very significant scale at or around the Russian capital,” taking the war home to Russians in a way that would be “most unwelcome” to the Kremlin, Gould Davies told The Associated Press.
“There is no ongoing peace process to disrupt. What (the attack) is more likely to do is add to the darkening cloud of anxiety over Russia which has developed palpably over the last three or four months,” he said.
He cited a combination of factors, including Russia's recent battlefield setbacks, a deteriorating economic situation at home, and the Kremlin's intensifying crackdown on the internet, including in Moscow and Russia's second-largest city, St. Petersburg.
“The fact that Ukraine is reminding the Moscow population that it is vulnerable to these attacks is likely to intensify the mix of concerns now,” Gould Davies said. “I see no prospect though, in the shorter term, that even these factors together will induce Russia to consider the compromises that will be necessary for peace negotiations.”
Ukrainian drones are also flying deep into Russia to strike oil facilities, sending up plumes of smoke that can be seen from space and bringing toxic rain to tourist destinations on the Black Sea. The attacks are aimed at slashing Moscow’s oil exports, a key source of funding for Russia's grinding invasion of Ukraine.
While their the economic impact is so far unclear — as the rise in oil prices from the Iran war, and a related easing of U.S. sanctions, have helped replenish the Kremlin’s coffers — the range of the strikes and their environmental impact is bringing the war home to ordinary Russians far from the front lines.
Russia attacked Ukraine with 287 drones overnight into Sunday, 279 of which were shot down or jammed, the Ukrainian air force reported.
The strikes wounded 8 people in Ukraine's central Dnipropetrovsk region: three in the regional capital of Dnipro, four in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's hometown of Kryvyi Rih, and one in the district of Synelkove, Ukraine’s state emergency service said.
Residential buildings were damaged in all three locations, the service said.
Emma Burrows contributed to this report from Tallinn, Estonia.
FILE - Aeroflot's passengers planes are parked at Sheremetyevo airport, outside Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, March 1, 2022. (AP Photo, File)
This photo released by Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyev's official telegram channel shows the damage after a Ukrainian drone attack, just outside Moscow, Russia, on Sunday, May 17, 2026. (Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyev's official telegram channel via AP)
This photo released by Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyev's official telegram channel shows a house on fire after a Ukrainian attack in Khimki, just outside Moscow, Russia, on Sunday, May 17, 2026. (Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyev's official telegram channel via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of President Donald Trump's closest allies in Congress who traveled the globe to advocate for a more aggressive U.S. foreign policy, has died after a “brief and sudden illness." He was 71.
His office's statement posted on social media early Sunday said his family “appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period.” It did not provide any additional details about the circumstances surrounding the Saturday night death of the prominent South Carolina Republican, a former Air Force lawyer who served in Congress for three decades.
Hours later, another statement from Graham's office said the Medical Examiner of the District of Columbia’s preliminary findings are the senator died of aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease. That is an aorta rupture stemming from hardening of Graham’s arteries.
Trump, who talked to Graham frequently, said he was “like a member of the family. It’s very tough.” He said on NBC’s ”Meet the Press" that Graham had called him on Saturday night after returning from a trip to Ukraine and “sounded a little bit tired, but perfect.” The president ordered that flags across the country be flown at half-staff until Saturday evening.
A noted hawk, Graham was one of the most influential figures in Washington on foreign affairs and he advised Trump on matters such as the Iran war and Russia. On Friday, Graham had announced an agreement with the Trump administration to move forward on a package of Russia sanctions.
As chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Graham also had a central role during Trump’s second term as Republicans pushed major legislation on party-line votes while holding a narrow 53-47 majority in the chamber.
Under South Carolina law, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster will appoint a temporary replacement for Graham, who was seeking a fifth term in November. A new nominee will be selected in a special primary, which is required to be held within weeks of a vacancy. The winner of November's general election will start a full six-year term in January.
Graham, elected to the Senate in 2002 after serving in the House, long promoted a policy of robust U.S. military interventionism and strong national defense that in later years would put him at odds with the growing isolationist wing of his party.
Over time, Graham became well-known for his close ties with Trump, whom the senator briefly ran against for the presidential nomination in 2016.
Their relationship would begin on a rough note, with Graham calling the then-New York businessman “unfit for office.” Graham used a profanity to describe Trump after Trump made disparaging comments about Arizona Republican John McCain, Graham's best friend in the Senate and a Vietnam War veteran. McCain and Graham, along with Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., were known as the “Three Amigos” and frequently traveled together to promote their foreign policy views around the globe.
During a campaign rally in South Carolina, Trump read out Graham’s personal cellphone number and continued to belittle him throughout the 2016 race as Graham made it clear he would not support Trump.
Graham, however, shifted significantly once Trump won the White House and emerged as one of Trump's top allies — speaking with him frequently and becoming a regular presence on the golf course alongside the president — even as McCain remained a critic.
In a 2018 interview with The Associated Press, Graham explained his pivot by saying McCain taught him that the country must move forward after elections and that meant “you have an obligation” to help the president. McCain ran twice for the White House.
“And I’ve tried to be helpful where I could because I think he needs all the help he can get,” Graham said of Trump. “You can be a better critic when people understand that you’re trying to help them be successful.”
Graham was a prominent defender of Trump during the president's two first-term impeachments — a reversal from Graham's role as a House prosecutor during Democratic President Bill Clinton's impeachment in 1998, when he urged senators not to make up their minds before listening to all of the arguments. Both Trump and Clinton were eventually acquitted.
Graham appeared to break with Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, saying in a dramatic speech on the Senate floor that night, “Count me out. Enough is enough." But the senator soon returned to Trump's side and the two remained close during Trump's second term.
Graham had just been in Ukraine to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said the senator visited his country 10 times during the years since Russia invaded in February 2022. “Lindsey was a true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer,” Zelenskyy said.
He was also one of the chief backers of Trump's war in Iran, having advocated for years for direct confrontation between Washington and Tehran. Graham continued to defend Trump this summer even as many of fellow Republicans questioned a tentative June ceasefire agreement that they worried could send billions of dollars to Iran.
“I’d rather try diplomacy than take it off the table,” Graham said of Trump’s memorandum of understanding with Tehran.
Graham's travels made him a familiar face to dozens of world leaders.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Graham understood that the security of Israel and the United States was inseparable.
“Israel has lost one of its greatest friends. America has lost a great patriot. I have lost a beloved friend,” Netanyahu said.
As Budget Committee chairman, Graham helped oversee a Senate procedure that allowed Republicans to pass significant policies such as last year’s tax law without the threat of a Democratic filibuster.
He had previously led the Senate Judiciary Committee when Republicans confirmed Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court in 2020. The senator was in line to regain that gavel if the party kept its majority after the midterm elections and had pledged to confirm "as many conservative judges as possible.”
Graham was a key player in the Senate’s efforts to craft a massive immigration overhaul in 2013 as a member of a bipartisan group. The legislation passed the Senate with 68 votes but was never taken up by the House, so it did not become law.
Graham’s views on immigration, particularly an endorsement of a path to citizenship for people in the U.S. without legal status, put him at odds with some Republican factions.
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat who was his ally on that issue, said Graham was “part of every important policy issue and an indispensable player” in bipartisan negotiations.
Graham often worked across the aisle, even as he remained fiercely loyal to Trump. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat, said in a statement that “personal relationships often mattered more to him than the political disagreements of the day."
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Graham was “over the moon” with the Russian sanctions deal announced Friday. “The last thing in the world I would have guessed was that he was sick or ill or in any way vulnerable,” Blumenthal said.
Jaime Harrison, a former national and state Democratic Party chairman who unsuccessfully ran against Graham in 2020, said that even during their “fiercest political battles” the two men "could still share a conversation, a laugh, and a mutual respect for South Carolina.”
Graham was unique in the Senate for his influence not only on Trump, but also with his fellow Republicans who were aware of his ability to sometimes move the president’s thinking. He was also known for his sense of humor, often deployed to diffuse tensions.
Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the second-ranking Republican, said Graham will be missed for his “quick wit and infectious laughter.”
McMaster said in a statement that Graham was “irreplaceable.” Former Republican President George W. Bush said Graham “understood how the world works” and “was a kind and funny man who loved our country and loved serving it.”
Graham often spoke about his humble roots, growing up in the back of a South Carolina bar and helping to raise his sister, Darline, after his parents died at a young age. Graham was not married and did not have children.
Graham won 57% of the GOP vote in South Carolina's primary in June and was up against Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician, and several minor party and independent candidates in November.
His death will likely prompt a scramble to fill a rare open Senate seat.
A number of Republican names began circulating as possible replacements to serve out the rest of Graham’s term, including Reps. Nancy Mace and Russell Fry.
Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, the former longtime Republican leader, was hospitalized weeks ago for undisclosed health reasons.
Kinnard reported from Columbia, S.C. Associated Press writers Chris Megerian and Will Weissert in Washington, Bill Barrow in Atlanta, Brian P. D. Hannon in Bangkok and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. answer media questions near damaged Russian vehicles exhibition in central Kyiv, Friday, July 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
FILE - Senators John McCain, R-Ariz., from left, Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., attend a press conference, July 5, 2010 in Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Dusan Vranic, File)
FILE - Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks as Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., listen, at a primary election night party at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds in Columbia, S.C., Feb. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
FILE - U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. answers questions from the media near an exhibition of damaged Russian vehicles in central Kyiv, on July 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, July 10, 2026. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
FILE - Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., left, gestures as President Donald Trump speaks with reporters while in flight on Air Force One, Jan. 4, 2026, as they were returning to Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
FILE - U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., gestures as he speaks to the media in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File)
