WASHINGTON (AP) — Maine Democrat Troy Jackson says he does not regret telling Sen. Susan Collins that she should “shut up” after the Republican suggested a protester who interrupted their recent debate was one of his campaign's backers.
"She said that it was a Troy supporter. She accused me of setting that up. I had no idea who it was,” said Jackson, a former president of the state Senate who is trying to deny Collins, the longest-serving Republican woman in Senate history, a sixth-term. He spoke in an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union” that aired Sunday.
During their final debate Thursday night in the closely contested race, as the Nov. 3 election nears a protester opposing data centers began yelling as Collins spoke. While moderators asked for that person to be removed, the senator said the demonstrator was “obviously one of Troy’s supporters.”
Jackson responded: “Oh, shut up. I don’t even know that kid.”
The Sunrise Movement group posted on its Instagram page that the outburst came from one of its members. In a caption of an Instagram post, the group's page said: “We’re proud of this Sunrise volunteer who took action yesterday.”
The New York Times said the protester, Henry Elgie, a 19-year-old student at Bowdoin College in Maine, told the newspaper in an interview Saturday that he had “zero coordination” with Jackson's campaign. "I do not know Troy Jackson personally or at all,” he was quoted as saying.
The Sunrise Movement is a left-wing political advocacy organization that champions the Green New Deal, aimed at transitioning the U.S. economy to 100% renewable energy. The group, which has local arms around the country, regularly organizes protests, sit-ins and climate strikes.
Jackson told CNN that he shook hands with Collins after each of their debates.
“But what I’m not going to be is talked down to by Sen. Collins,” he said. He added: "I’m fighting for Mainers and I just think that was another situation where she was talking down to me and I’m not going to apologize for that.”
Collins told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Friday that she was “struck by how reflective the response, ‘Oh, shut up,’ was.” Collins said "the fact that it seemed like such an automatic, quick reply was very telling.”
She cited what she said was “the reputation” that Jackson had in the Legislature “particularly when he’s dealing with women with whom he disagrees. So in some ways it didn’t surprise me.”
Some state lawmakers who worked with Jackson have criticized him as having a temper, including once throwing a plastic water bottle on the ground in frustration while disagreeing with a female lawmaker. Asked by reporters during the campaign about the confrontations, Jackson said, "I wear my heart on my sleeve.” He took responsibility for his outburst and apologized to those he had confrontations with at the time.
Jackson was asked on CNN about some Republicans who are saying there were stories that he was aggressive in his tone to women from his time in the Legislature and that his remark Thursday night was another example of that.
Jackson said some Republicans have been spending millions “attacking me and my family, making untrue claims. … So it doesn’t surprise me."
This combination of photos shows Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, on Sept. 24, 2026, in Washington, left, and her challenger for the Maine's U.S. Senate seat, Democratic candidate Troy Jackson on July 16, 2026, in Portland, Maine. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, Robert F. Bukaty)
Troy Jackson (D) directs a question to Sen. Susan Collins (R) during the final Maine U.S. Senate debate in Bangor, Maine, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. (Gregory A. Rec/Portland Press Herald via AP, Pool)
Ukrainian strikes set an oil export terminal and a depot ablaze in St. Petersburg on Sunday as Kyiv launched more than 1,000 drones at Russia in one of its largest aerial attacks of the war.
The strikes came as tensions between Ukraine and Washington deepened, with U.S. President Donald Trump criticizing Kyiv’s attacks on Russian oil infrastructure and the prospect of further U.S. sanctions against Moscow still uncertain.
Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said waiving sanctions against Russia would strengthen Putin’s war effort. He also said U.S.-Ukraine intelligence sharing had resumed after being “blocked for some period of time.”
Trump told reporters late Saturday that they did not know what his decision on further sanctions against Russia would be, despite signing an executive order Friday night waiving planned restrictions, citing U.S. national interests.
Zelenskyy said that while he trusted Trump, siding with Moscow would be a tragedy and a “historic mistake” for Washington.
“People want to forget what’s going on. But we can’t give this possibility to forget, or to change reality, or to change the truth,” Zelenskyy said. “We can’t compare me and Putin. He’s aggressor. He occupied us. He killed adults and children, his soldiers. He’s a terrorist. And that’s why I hope that President Trump will be very clear with this position.”
Later Sunday, Zelenskyy said on social media that he had spoken with U.S. presidential envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner about the results of an Oct. 9 meeting between U.S. and Ukrainian negotiating teams in Miami, as well as “next steps in diplomacy.”
One person was killed and five others were wounded in the St. Petersburg attack, which sparked fires at the Petersburg Oil Terminal and the city’s Ruchi oil depot, local Gov. Alexander Beglov said. A logistics center belonging to Russian retailer Ozon and a data center operated by Russian tech giant VK were also targeted, the companies confirmed.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sunday that its forces had destroyed 1,015 Ukrainian drones over 15 Russian regions, the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and the Black Sea.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian state news agency Tass that Kyiv was “resisting” Moscow’s invasion but could not “change the current course of events.”
Meanwhile, in Ukraine, a woman was killed and a 6-year-old girl was among at least two other people wounded in two Russian attacks on the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, local officials said Sunday.
Trump announced on Oct. 11 that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to an “energy ceasefire” in the 4½-year-old war, but offered no details. Kyiv reported Russian attacks on energy sites continued after Trump's announcement, and on Thursday said it had resumed strikes on Russian oil facilities after a three-day pause.
Zelenskyy wrote on X on Sunday that Russia had attacked Ukraine’s energy, oil and gas sectors 76 times in the week since Trump’s announcement. The Ukrainian government initially said it was observing the ceasefire.
Energy facilities in four Ukrainian regions were struck overnight, leaving tens of thousands of families without power, he said, accusing Russia of trying to cause a blackout.
“America should see that Russia is not taking any reciprocal steps in response to sanctions relief or agreements. On the contrary, they take every signal of an opportunity to make money as proof that their bet on war is paying off and they can keep fighting,” he wrote.
Zelenskyy also stressed that the war was continuing because of Russia’s invasion, not Ukraine’s efforts to defend itself. “It is Russia that must face pressure for peace to have a chance."
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry apologized on Sunday after a drone entered Lithuania’s airspace, prompting authorities to issue an air raid warning.
Russian electronic warfare may have diverted the drone during a Ukrainian operation against legitimate military targets in Russia, ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said in a statement.
Lithuanian authorities urged residents in two northern counties along the Latvian border to take cover early Sunday because of a possible drone incursion, public broadcaster LRT reported.
A drone entered the northern Pasvalys region and damaged a moving car, LRT said, citing Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Center. No injuries were reported.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Smoke billows into the sky following Ukrainian drone strikes on an industrial zone in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. (UGC via AP)
A car burns after a Russian airstrike on a residential neighborhood in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)
