KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko stepped down on Sunday as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced fresh changes to Ukraine's government.
In a statement on social media, Svyrydenko said she was “proud to have had the honor of leading the government during one of the most difficult periods in Ukraine’s modern history.” She also said she had discussed “next steps” with Zelenskyy, but did not provide further details.
“I remain ready to serve the Ukrainian state and carry out every task aimed at strengthening Ukraine’s position, defending our national interests and bringing a just peace closer,” she said.
Svyrydenko, Ukraine's former economy minister, was named prime minister in July 2025 at the age of 39 after playing a lead role in securing a mineral agreement between Ukraine and the U.S., seen as an important way of tying U.S. interests to Ukraine’s security.
Zelenskyy announced her resignation in a post saying that Ukraine was “changing its political strategy.”
He also said he had offered Svyrydenko the opportunity to lead “a new, important area” in Ukraine’s relations with a key international partner.
“Each priority area of foreign policy will be assigned to a specific person with substantial experience who is capable of implementing what we agree on at the leaders’ level and what the Ukrainian people expect,” Zelenskyy said, describing the impending reshuffle. The Ukrainian leader also said there would be changes among the top ranks of Ukraine's law enforcement agencies.
Zelenskyy met with a series of senior officials following the announcement, including Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko and Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.
The overhaul, which Zelenskyy has yet to explain in detail, would be the fourth major reorganization of his government since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Zelenskyy, who has remained in office under martial law because wartime elections are prohibited, has periodically reshuffled his government in an effort to bring fresh momentum to his administration.
Elsewhere, a Ukrainian attack in southwest Russia killed one person and wounded three more, local officials said Sunday, as Kyiv’s forces continued to bombard Russia’s oil facilities.
The head of Russia's Samara region, Gov. Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, said that a child was among the injured. He also said that residential homes and apartment buildings were damaged in the strike, as well as an unspecified “industrial site.”
Russian media outlets reported that the attack’s target was the region’s Syzran Oil Refinery, with many sharing images that appeared to show plumes of black smoke rising over the site. The refinery, which is owned by oil and gas giant Rosneft and sits some 800 kilometers (500 miles) east of the border, has been a repeated target for Kyiv's forces.
Meanwhile the governor of Russia’s Rostov region, Yuri Slyusar, said that a tanker had been damaged in a drone attack in the Azov-Black Sea maritime canal. The tanker was empty and there is no threat of an oil spill, Slyusar said.
Ukraine’s drone strikes on oil refineries and other infrastructure across Russia have triggered a widespread fuel crisis with gasoline shortages and rationing in multiple regions and motorists waiting for hours to fill their tanks. Moscow has responded by intensifying its bombardment on Kyiv and other cities, exposing Ukraine’s vulnerability to ballistic missile strikes.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described the strikes on Russia’s energy infrastructure as part of Kyiv’s campaign of “long-range sanctions” carried out in response to Moscow’s refusal to halt its four-year invasion of its neighbor.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Sunday that it had attacked the ports of Odesa and Chornomorsk in Ukraine’s Odesa region. Ukrainian officials have not yet commented on the claims.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
FILE - Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko arrives for a meeting with Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda at the Presidential palace in Vilnius, Lithuania, June 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis, File)
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,” his office said. He was 71.
The 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 South Carolina Republican, a former Air Force lawyer who served in Congress for three decades.
Trump said Graham was “like a member of the family. It’s very tough.” The president said Graham called him on Saturday night after returning from a trip to Ukraine. “He sounded a little bit tired, but perfect,” Trump told NBC's ”Meet the Press."
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 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.
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. He 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 impeachments. That was a reversal from Graham's role a House prosecutor during Democratic President Bill Clinton's impeachment in 1998. Both presidents were eventually acquitted.
Graham had 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.
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 oversaw 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 midterms elections and he 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.
But 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.
He sometimes faced primary challenges in his home state of South Carolina, but he won the nomination outright in June.
The senator addressed the president in his victory speech last month, saying, “I’m going to help you change this world and change this country.”
Graham was known 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 — as well as for his relationships with world leaders.
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.”
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."
Graham spoke about his humble roots, growing up in the back of a South Carolina bar and helping to raise his sister after his parents died at a young age. Graham was not married and did not have children. His closest living relative is sister Darline Graham Nordone, whom he helped raise.
Graham won 57% of the GOP vote in the primary and was up against Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician, and several minor party and independent candidates in November.
After McMaster appoints a replacement, South Carolina law requires a special primary for voters to select a new nominee within weeks of a vacancy. The general election winner will take office January, beginning a full six-year term.
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.
The brief statement by Graham's office did not explain the circumstances of his death, which came at a time when there has been some concern about a lack of transparency about the heath of some members of Congress.
Rep. Tom Kean Jr., R-N.J., was absent without explanation for months before recently returning to Congress and disclosing he had been diagnosed with depression.
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 Christopher Megerian in Washington,, Brian P. D. Hannon in Bangkok and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.
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)
