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Funerals, beauty queens and bombs: The Ukrainian city that won’t let Putin win
Inside Lviv: Ukraine’s ‘Unbroken City’
Fox News Digital reports from Lviv, where military funerals, civilian weapons training and beauty pageants coexist as residents struggle to preserve normal life four years into Russia’s war against Ukraine.
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LVIV, Ukraine — As Kyiv takes a massive hit from Russia, another city seeks to carry on amid war. Four years into Russia’s war, the western Ukrainian city of Lviv is trying to master something impossible: how to live normally while surrounded by death.
At 11:30 a.m., the city stops.
Cars freeze in the middle of the street. Pedestrians pause on sidewalks. In the center of town, underneath the tall clock tower that rises above city hall, people bow their heads in silence as another military funeral convoy passes through the streets.
«It happens one to five times a day,» a local resident says quietly.
The war feels far from Lviv, until suddenly it doesn’t.
UKRAINE’S BATTLEFIELD IS TRANSFORMING THE FUTURE OF NATO
Residents stop in silence as a military funeral convoy carrying a fallen Ukrainian soldier passes through central Lviv near City Hall. (Efrat Lachter/Fox News Digital)
The city of roughly one million people sits near the Polish border, hundreds of miles from the brutal front lines in eastern Ukraine. But Russian drones and missiles still hit here. Air raid sirens interrupt coffee dates and children’s soccer games. Funeral processions cut through wedding traffic. Entire neighborhoods live between moments of beauty and grief.
«We lost approximately 2,000 citizens of Lviv,» Mayor Andriy Sadovyi told Fox News Digital during an interview at city hall. «It is a very huge price which we pay to our independence, to our democracy.»
Sadovyi has led the city for nearly two decades, except for a brief presidential run. Inside his office overlooking the historic center, he proudly points to the terrace where he has hosted world leaders and celebrities, including actor Tom Cruise. At one point, a large well-fed cat jumps onto his desk.
«This is my deputy,» Sadovyi jokes. The cat, he explains proudly, has become something of a city mascot. «He’s tough like a Ukrainian.»
But beneath the humor is exhaustion. Sadovyi says he realized at the beginning of the war that Lviv had a special responsibility. It was close enough to Europe to remain functioning, but close enough to war to understand what was at stake.
His answer was what he calls the «Unbroken» project: a sprawling rehabilitation and innovation effort aimed at helping Ukraine survive physically and psychologically.
The city built rehabilitation centers for wounded soldiers and civilians arriving from across the country, treating amputees, burn victims and trauma patients. Sadovyi says the municipality also dedicated 20% of its budget to supporting defense technology companies developing military solutions for the war effort.
«Every family in this city was affected by war,» he says. «We need to be strong. We need to survive. I’m building what is needed for that.»
‘A NEW KIND OF WAR’: INSIDE UKRAINE’S HIDDEN FACTORIES MASS-PRODUCING COMBAT DRONES
A shooting instructor stands inside a civilian training range in Lviv, where residents learn weapons handling, survival skills and emergency preparedness amid the ongoing war. (Efrat Lachter/Fox News Digital)
Yet survival in Lviv is not only about weapons or hospitals. It is also about convincing people not to give up on life itself.
«People are afraid to come here,» Sadovyi says. «But we need them to come.»
One of the city’s newest projects reflects that mentality. Part school, part shooting range, part patriotic training center, it was designed to prepare civilians for a country where war has become everyday reality.
Inside one classroom, dozens of teenage girls sit listening to instructors explain emergency survival skills. Upstairs, at the indoor shooting range, instructor Vitaliy proudly shows off rows of American-made weapons including AR-15 style rifles and pistols.
«It’s not as big as ranges in the United States,» he says apologetically.
On the wall hangs a shredded image of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin, riddled with bullet holes from target practice.
Vitaliy laughs when asked about Russian President Vladimir Putin posters.
«We ran out,» he jokes. «They’re too popular. We can’t keep them.»
On the terrace outside, two wounded veterans practice archery.
One sits in a wheelchair after losing both legs in the war. Another leans on a cane. Both have become competitive athletes through rehabilitation programs.
NATO ALLY POLAND WARNS RUSSIA, BELARUS PUSHING ILLEGAL MIGRANTS TOWARD ALLIANCE — AND THE US
Weapons and helmets at a local center in Lviv where locals practice shooting among other things. (Efrat Lachter/Fox News Digital.)
One proudly explains he won a silver medal during a national contest. The other recently took gold and is now preparing for an international championship. Neither wants to talk much about what happened to them during combat.
Their therapy now is sport.
Down the road, another funeral begins. A military convoy carrying the body of a 32-year-old soldier drives slowly through the city center until it arrives at the cemetery.
The city’s military cemetery filled so quickly that officials recently had to open a new burial ground just weeks ago. Already, rows of fresh graves stretch across the hillside, above them blue-and-yellow flags and photographs of young men and women smiling back from before the war.
The grieving brother at the funeral says the fallen soldier never had time to start his own family.
Around him, families kneel beside the earth.
And still, life continues.
Children go to school. Mothers rush to work. Cafés remain packed. Street musicians perform in the old town square.
That same evening, inside the Lviv Theater of Opera and Ballet, hundreds gather for the «Miss Lviv» beauty pageant.
Young women dressed in glittering gowns pose beneath bright stage lights while music echoes through the theater. The audience is overwhelmingly female. Many of the men still in the city work in defense industries or hold exemptions from military service.
POLAND SEEKS ANSWERS AFTER PENTAGON SCRAPS PLANNED US ARMORED BRIGADE ROTATION
The contrast feels surreal only hours after attending a military burial.
But for many residents, events like these are an act of resistance.
«We are trying to keep life going,» the reigning Miss Lviv says backstage before crowning the next winner. «I want the war to stop.»
One of her friends explains why gatherings like this matter.
The reigning Miss Lviv during the «Miss Lviv» beauty pageant in Lviv, as residents attempt to preserve normal life four years into the war. (Efrat Lachter/Fox News Digital)
«These are difficult times,» she says. «Doing normal things like this gives us a reason to dress up and enjoy ourselves.»
Nobody here believes anymore that peace can come in 24 hours. But many still hope that President Trump and the U.S. can help bring the war to an end.
By the time evening arrives, air raid sirens once again cut through the city.
At outdoor cafés, people barely react at first.
Contestants participate in the «Miss Lviv» beauty pageant in Lviv, as residents attempt to preserve normal life amid the ongoing war.
‘WRITTEN IN OUR DNA’: POLISH PILOTS WHO REMEMBER SOVIET RULE PREPARE FOR AMERICA’S MOST LETHAL FIGHTER JET
Parents continue watching children play near fountains. Young couples finish drinks on restaurant terraces. Residents wait to hear whether the threat is «only» drones or actual missiles before deciding whether to move toward one of the hundreds of shelters spread throughout the city.
That frustration increasingly extends beyond the battlefield itself. Speaking to Fox News Digital while the latest wave of Russian strikes battered Ukrainian cities overnight, Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United Nations Andriy Melnyk warned that the war was becoming even more dangerous for civilians.
Melnyk, a native of Lviv, described the massive Russian assault between Saturday and Sunday as «the worst and the most devastating Russian attack on the capital since the beginning of the large-scale invasion.»
Andriy Melnyk, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Nations and a native of Lviv, speaks to Fox News Digital on May 26, 2026, warning that Russia’s latest assault was «the worst and the most devastating Russian attack on the capital since the beginning of the large-scale invasion.» (Efrat Lachter/ Fox News Digital)
Even members of his own family in Kyiv, he said, are now considering temporarily leaving the city because «it becomes unbearable to stay.»
In Lviv, residents repeatedly ask to remind the world that the war is still intensifying, not fading into the background. Melnyk called on the United States and European allies to take «bold actions» to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin and urged Western countries to provide additional air defense systems capable of intercepting ballistic missiles and drones targeting civilians.
He also criticized the United Nations for failing to stop the war, arguing that Russia’s veto power had left the Security Council effectively paralyzed.
Ukrainian female soldiers are seen before heading to the frontline as Ukrainian displaced civilians continue to swarm around the train station to flee due to ongoing Russian attacks, in Lviv, Ukraine on March 24, 2022. (Photo by Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
On the overnight train leaving Lviv, most passengers are women. Border guards spend long minutes questioning the few men onboard, making sure they are not trying to escape mandatory military service.
The exhaustion is visible everywhere. Still, Sadovyi is full of hope.
«This city will have a great future,» he says confidently.
He believes the world will eventually come to Lviv not only to rebuild, but to learn.
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«To learn how to be unbroken,» he says.
Because, he warns, what happened to Ukraine could happen elsewhere too.
ukraine, wars, vladimir putin, military, technology
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Israel’s leaders are publicly signaling that their country is prepared to strike Iran for a third time, while a U.S. official tells Fox News Digital that Washington remains closely coordinated with Jerusalem.
«The IDF is on high alert and prepared to resume the campaign, regain air superiority, and carry out an independent Israeli strike against Iran to eliminate threats — even for a third time,» Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Minister Israel Katz said Thursday at a graduation ceremony for the Israeli Air Force’s newest pilots.
«If we have to return, we will return with even greater force,» Katz added.
ISRAEL DEFENSE CHIEF WARNS STRIKES ON IRAN COULD RESUME SOON, SIGNALS CAMPAIGN NOT OVER
U.S. Central Command shared this footage in a July 8, 2026, press release about strikes against Iran. (CENTCOM)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also warned Thursday that Israel’s campaign against Iran was not finished and said Tehran would not be permitted to obtain a nuclear weapon, regardless of any agreement reached with Washington.
«The war has not yet ended,» Netanyahu said at the air force ceremony. «Alongside the old challenges, new challenges are emerging. Axes are falling, and axes are rising. We are paying attention to this. We are prepared for every scenario.»
Two Israeli sources told CNN Friday that the Trump administration does not currently want Israel to participate in the latest U.S. strikes against Iran.
«Netanyahu would really want to join the U.S. strikes, but the U.S. doesn’t want Israel involved at the moment,» one of the sources told CNN.
A U.S. official denied the report, telling Fox News Digital, «This is fake news. The United States has a strong relationship with Israel, which contributed to the resounding success of Operation Midnight Hammer and Operation Epic Fury. We remain in close coordination with our Israeli partners.»
Israel first launched a major campaign against Iran in June 2025, with the United States later joining the fighting by striking the Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear facilities. On Feb. 28, the two allies launched a new, coordinated military campaign against Iran.
While Israeli leaders are openly presenting the military as ready for another campaign, some Israeli officials and analysts say there is little appetite for renewed fighting unless it produces a clear strategic result.
The public warnings may overstate Israel’s desire to reenter the fighting, said Israeli analyst and journalist for Israeli newspaper Yedioth Aharonoth, Nadav Eyal.
«On the record, Israel is signaling that it is prepared and even eager to strike Iran. But off the record, sources are saying that it is anything but that,» Eyal told Fox News Digital. «The reason is clear: Any Israeli strike in Iran will lead to Iranian ballistic missile attacks against Israel.»
US CLAWS BACK KEY CONCESSION TO IRAN AFTER FRESH ATTACKS ON COMMERCIAL SHIPS IN STRAIT OF HORMUZ
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, from left, US President Donald Trump and US Vice President JD Vance during a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. Trump insisted Egypt and Jordan will take in Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, dismissing the countries’ refusal to accept people from the war-shattered territory. Photographer: Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Getty Images)
Eyal said the domestic political consequences could make Netanyahu reluctant to begin another round of fighting, particularly as Israel approaches another election.
«If these strikes are meant to provide meaningful, strategic change, it is something the prime minister can sell to the public,» Eyal said. «But if the intention is only to use Israel as leverage, why should Israelis again experience a couple of weeks or more of sitting in safe rooms and losing their summer vacations, children’s day camps and summer camps? That could play out badly for the prime minister politically.»
«The truth is that Israel was not really enthusiastic about another strike,» he added. «That doesn’t mean it is not going to happen. If President Trump demands that Netanyahu join, it is very hard to see the Israelis saying no. But right now, I don’t see any passion for it.»
The diplomatic outreach continued even as Trump declared that the ceasefire with Iran was over.
«The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue ‘talks.’ We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that the Cease Fire is OVER!» Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
A source with knowledge of the situation told Fox News that Qatari negotiators have traveled to Iran, in coordination with the United States, to meet with Iranian officials in an effort to de-escalate the situation and create the conditions for negotiations to resume.
On Thursday, Netanyahu and Trump spoke by phone, according to the Israeli prime minister’s office, which said the two agreed to continue coordinating across several regional fronts. Trump briefed Netanyahu on American operations in the Gulf, the statement said.
NETANYAHU REJECTS REPORTS OF A RIFT WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP, SAYS THE TWO REMAIN ALIGNED ON IRAN
A satellite image shows damage at the control tower in the port of Chabahar, Iran, July 9, 2026, after the U.S. military said July 8, 2026, it launched fresh strikes on Iran to keep the Strait of Hormuz open to shipping. ( 2026 PLANET LABS PBC/Handout via Reuters)
The military warnings came as the Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Israel had provided the United States with intelligence about what is described as a fresh Iranian plot to assassinate Trump.
The developments follow renewed attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, where U.S. naval officials said the maritime threat remained «severe.» U.S. Naval Forces Central Command reminded commercial vessels Friday that an expanded southern route through the strait remained open and that no controlling authority could require ships to pay a fee for passage.
A U.S. official told Fox News on background that Iran’s attacks against commercial vessels were «acts of terrorism» and constituted failed performance under the memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran.
«The United States is still committed to finding a resolution, and technical talks continue,» the official said. «Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon.»
Brig. Gen. Yossi Kuperwasser, a former senior Israeli military intelligence officer who now heads the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, said Israel had never regarded the memorandum as an adequate guarantee.
«From Israel’s perspective, the MOU was never a good deal,» Kuperwasser told Fox News Digital, speaking of the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran.
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CENTCOM shared footage of strikes against airplanes amid Iran war (U.S. Central Command on X)
«Israel should be on high alert, ready to face an Iranian attack and prepared to strike back if necessary,» he added.
For now, Israel’s leaders appear to be leaving Iran — and Washington — with little doubt that they are prepared to act. Whether the United States allows Israel to join the renewed campaign, however, could determine whether the latest confrontation remains limited or develops into another full-scale regional war.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.
war with iran, iran, benjamin netanyahu, donald trump, defense
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Los ataques de Irán corren el riesgo de reavivar la guerra a gran escala con Estados Unidos
Irán, temeroso de que su control de las rutas marítimas clave del estrecho de Ormuz se estuviera debilitando, tentó su suerte y atacó de nuevo a buques petroleros, con lo que, según analistas, se ha arriesgado a reavivar una guerra a gran escala con Estados Unidos.
El miércoles, ambas partes amenazaron con cancelar el memorándum de entendimiento que habían firmado el 17 de junio para establecer un plan de conversaciones de paz y prolongar el frágil alto al fuego que ha estado vigente desde abril. En la noche, aviones de combate estadounidenses realizaron ataques aún más intensos contra decenas de objetivos iraníes en todo el territorio, mientras que Irán prometió intensificar los ataques con drones y misiles contra los aliados de Estados Unidos en el golfo Pérsico.
El acuerdo básico de ese memorándum de entendimiento de 14 puntos, redactado en términos vagos, consistía en que Irán reabriría el estrecho de Ormuz al tráfico comercial a cambio de un respiro económico que tanto necesitaba. Los temas más espinosos, como el futuro del programa nuclear iraní, se dejaron para más adelante, para negociaciones futuras. Pero casi nada cambió.
“El memorándum de entendimiento se parecía cada vez más a un espejismo”, dijo Vali Nasr, un experimentado analista sobre Irán y profesor de la Escuela de Estudios Internacionales Avanzados de la Universidad Johns Hopkins. “En Teherán se considera que Estados Unidos está llevando a cabo un esfuerzo concertado para arrebatarle a Irán el control del estrecho, debilitar su posición en el Líbano y recuperar su poder para ejercer aún más presión sobre Irán o volver a la guerra”.
Conforme los 60 días del acuerdo se terminaban, Irán se sentía cada vez más frustrado porque la Armada estadounidense estaba alentando a las embarcaciones a tomar una ruta sur por la costa de Omán, en lugar de respetar las exigencias iraníes de que todo el tráfico se registrara con su recién creada autoridad de tránsito de Ormuz, un paso previo al cobro de tarifas. El tráfico del pasado fin de semana fue de aproximadamente un tercio del nivel anterior a la guerra, que superaba las 100 embarcaciones diarias, repartidas a partes iguales entre los lados iraní y omaní de la vía navegable, según Kpler, que realiza un seguimiento del tráfico marítimo.
Además, Estados Unidos estaba trabajando para cerrar un acuerdo de paz por separado entre el Líbano e Israel que incluyera el objetivo, inalcanzable por tanto tiempo, de desarmar a Hezbollah, la principal fuerza aliada de Irán en el Líbano. Por último, en los debates públicos sobre la ayuda financiera, la escala seguía reduciéndose.
En cambio, incluso en medio de las ceremonias fúnebres a lo largo de la semana en honor al ayatollah Alí Jamenei, el líder supremo de Irán asesinado en la guerra en febrero, los iraníes decidieron atacar en lugar de esperar a que su ventaja se desvaneciera, dijeron los analistas. El martes, unos proyectiles alcanzaron a tres buques petroleros que transitaban por el estrecho, aunque Irán no reivindicó su autoría. La tumba del difunto líder supremo de Irán, el ayatollah Alí Jamenei, asesinado el 28 de febrero en ataques aéreos israelíes y estadounidenses, en el santuario del Imán Reza, en Mashhad, Khorasán Razaví (Irán), en esta imagen de archivo difundida el 10 de julio de 2026. (Foto: REUTERS)
Los analistas dijeron que la percepción de Irán de que había vencido a Estados Unidos e Israel en la guerra de principios de este año probablemente contribuyó a que se reavivara el enfrentamiento.
“Después de haber aguantado la paliza de Estados Unidos e Israel, probablemente se sientan bastante seguros”, dijo Suzanne Maloney, investigadora principal del Brookings Institution en Washington, que ha asesorado tanto a gobiernos republicanos como demócratas en materia de política de Medio Oriente. “Creo que el momento en que se realizaron los ataques, que coinciden con las ceremonias fúnebres, demuestra cierto triunfalismo por parte del régimen, que considera que, en esencia, por fin se ha liberado de la guerra. Son capaces de enterrar a sus muertos y siguen respondiendo a los ataques. Sin duda, hay un mensaje en eso”.
Aunque antes de la guerra el tráfico marítimo fluía libremente, Irán dijo que pretendía imponer un nuevo control sobre el estrecho, dijeron los analistas. Estados Unidos, que había levantado las sanciones petroleras contra Irán que llevaban décadas vigentes, las volvió a imponer de inmediato.
Irán afirmó que no le importaba. “Los ingresos no son tan importantes como el control”, dijo en la televisión estatal Majid Shakeri, un economista iraní y asesor de Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, presidente del Parlamento y principal negociador. “Nos quedamos con el estrecho o todos y cada uno de nosotros nos convertiremos en mártires por él”.
Aun así, ambas partes suelen recurrir a una retórica agresiva y a los alardes, según señalaron analistas, y tienden a utilizar la guerra como un modo de negociación. Trump no descartó del todo la idea de retomar las negociaciones.
Leé también: Crece la tensión en Medio Oriente: Benjamin Netanyahu advirtió que “la guerra contra Irán no terminó”
Los ultraconservadores de Irán llevan mucho tiempo atacando la mera idea de las negociaciones, por lo que ha habido llamamientos para retirarse del memorándum de entendimiento sobre la situación en el estrecho.
“Creo que se trata sobre todo de una pose”, dijo Nate Swanson, investigador principal del Atlantic Council que anteriormente fue director para Irán en el Consejo de Seguridad Nacional bajo la presidencia de Joe Biden. “Creo que es parecido a lo que está haciendo Trump. Él negocia a través de acciones militares y amenazas estridentes, así que, en cierto modo, hablan el mismo idioma”.
Irán apostaba por que Trump, molesto con el conflicto y ante unas difíciles elecciones intermedias en cuatro meses, no se arriesgaría a reanudar una guerra impopular, según sugirieron los analistas.
Sin embargo, Trump lanzó una diatriba contra los iraníes; tachó a sus líderes de “malvados” y de “escoria” y sugirió que Estados Unidos atacaría a Irán aún más fuerte. Dijo que el alto al fuego se había “acabado”.
“Corren el riesgo de malinterpretar al presidente Trump, algo que han hecho una y otra vez”, dijo Joel Rayburn, investigador principal del Instituto Hudson, coronel retirado del ejército estadounidense y exenviado especial para Siria durante el primer mandato de Trump. Irán tiene una tradición longeva de emprender acciones provocadoras, como disparar contra petroleros y luego hacerse pasar por la parte agraviada, dijo: “Está sobreestimando su situación”.
No sería la primera vez. Justo después de la Revolución islámica de 1979, el nuevo gobierno de línea dura de Teherán retuvo a rehenes de la embajada estadounidense por 444 días, mucho más tiempo del que les servía como ventaja, y a cambio consiguió que se embargaran millardos de dólares en activos depositados en instituciones financieras occidentales. En 1982, Irán rechazó una tregua en la guerra entre Irán e Irak, lo que provocó seis años más de combates brutales y cientos de miles de bajas.
*Por Neil MacFarquhar, reportero del Times desde 1995 que cubre una amplia variedad de temas, desde la guerra hasta la política y las artes, tanto a nivel internacional como en Estados Unidos.
The New York Times, Irán, Estados Unidos
Backlash intensifies as Graham Platner drops Senate bid
Former Maine Senate nominee Graham Platner withdraws from the race after a rape accusation, sparking political uproar. Platner blames the media and political establishment for his downfall, while critics, including Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, denounce his «narcissistic» video. Democrats now race to select a new nominee by July 27, with figures like Troy Jackson emerging.
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Graham Platner the embattled Democratic Senate nominee in Maine, on Friday publicly released the letter formally withdrawing from the U.S. Senate race, thanking supporters before signing off with, «F**k ICE. Free Palestine. Up the Hearts.»
Platner posted the July 10 letter on X after submitting it to the Maine Department of the Secretary of State’s Division of Elections.
«I write to formally withdraw my candidacy for United States Senate,» Platner wrote.
THE DOZEN RACES THAT WILL DETERMINE THE SENATE’S BALANCE OF POWER
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner speaks at his primary election event in Blue Hill, Maine, on June 9, 2026. (CJ Gunther/Getty Images)
The letter thanked the 156,084 Mainers who voted for him in last month’s Democratic primary and argued they had backed «a new kind of politics» focused on issues including Medicare for All, stronger unions and limiting the influence of billionaires in politics.
«My name may have been on the ballot, but that ballot line belongs to the people of Maine,» Platner wrote. «As such, please consider this notice as my official withdrawal from consideration for this office.»
Platner concluded the letter by writing, «F**k ICE. Free Palestine. Up the Hearts.»
The letter comes two days after Platner announced he was suspending his campaign amid mounting controversies and allegations of sexual misconduct that he has repeatedly denied.
A populist Democrat who was backed last September by progressive champion Sen. Bernie Sanders, Platner was challenging longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins in a high-profile, combustible and expensive race in Maine, which is one of a handful that will determine if the GOP holds onto its slim Senate majority in November’s midterm elections.
«For the movement to continue, it can’t be me. For that reason, we are suspending campaign operations,» Platner said on Wednesday in a video posted to social media.
The end of his campaign came a month after Platner won a landslide victory in Maine’s June 9 Democratic Senate primary, but days after an explosive report contained an allegation of rape from a woman he previously dated.
Maine resident Jenny Racicot told CNN «by dictionary definition» Platner «raped» her. She also said over the course of three interviews with Politico that Platner forced her to have sex five years ago against her will, a claim that he denied.
Platner last week was hit with a second explosive allegation of sexual misconduct. In a report published by The Washington Post, Platner was accused of removing condoms during sex with his ex-girlfriend Lyndsey Fifield after she explicitly directed him to wear them.
Fifield had previously accused Platner in a New York Times report of physical misconduct during their relationship, saying that he sometimes grabbed her hard enough to leave marks on her body and that one time he twisted her arm around her back, pushed her into a bedroom and held the door shut until she «calmed down.»
The Platner campaign responded that Fifield’s latest allegations were «categorically false and politically motivated,» pointing to her previous work for the conservative Heritage Foundation.
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Addressing the multiple allegations in his video announcement last week, a visibly angry Platner charged, «This is all false. The things that have been claimed did not happen. It is not real.»
The Marine Corps combat veteran and oyster farmer became the all-but-certain party nominee in the spring after two-term Gov. Janet Mills, who was backed by Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and the party establishment, suspended her bid after significantly trailing Platner in fundraising and polling.
But as he moved towards capturing the nomination, Platner was forced to play defense amid multiple controversies that muddied the final days of his primary campaign and overshadowed his victory.
Past inflammatory online comments made on a now-deleted Reddit account came back to haunt him at the same time he was reeling from revelations of a now covered-up tattoo on his chest that resembled a Nazi symbol. Then reports that Platner exchanged sexually explicit messages with several women while married came right before allegations from ex-girlfriends of a history of rape fantasies, heavy drinking and violent episodes.
Platner repeatedly called the allegations of violence untrue.
The mounting controversies drew plenty of attention, gave Republicans more ammunition to use against him and triggered some Democrats in the nation’s capital to question whether Platner was damaged goods.
But the allegations didn’t stop him from riding a populist wave to capture the nomination in a landslide.
SCANDAL-PLAGUED PLATNER CAPTURES DEMOCRATIC SENATE NOMINATION DESPITE MOUNTING CONTROVERSIES
Platner, who struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from his three tours in the war in Iraq with the Marines and one tour with the Army National Guard in Afghanistan, apologized for his controversial Reddit posts after some of them made headlines after he launched his Senate campaign.
In his primary night victory speech last month, Platner emphasized that he was a changed man.
«If you believe, as I do, that we can change our politics and change our country, then you must also believe that people can change,» Platner told the crowd. «And the reason I believe that is because I have lived it.»
After the latest allegations went viral last week, a growing chorus of Democrats called on Platner to quit the race, from establishment figures like Schumer to progressives among his biggest backers, including Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Mass., and Rep. Ro Khanna, Calif., who campaigned with Platner in Maine in June.
The Maine Democratic Party announced last week that officials were working «around the clock» to determine a replacement process, but claimed Platner’s team was trying «to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like.»
Graham Platner, Democratic US Senate candidate for Maine, during a primary election night event at the Blue Hill YMCA in Blue Hill, Maine, US, on Tuesday, June 9, 2026. Progressive Democrat Graham Platner won the party’s Senate primary in Maine after a bruising campaign which became as much about his accusations of past misbehavior as it was voters’ top concerns. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Platner’s team, responding, said they had reached out to the party but denied they were trying to put any «finger on the scale.»
A day later, the state party announced it would hold a nominating convention, which Fox News Digital confirmed would likely consist of 600 voting delegates, to choose a new Senate nominee.
That didn’t appear to sit well with Platner, who in his video said, «What comes next needs to come from the people. Needs to come from the people of Maine. Needs to come from the voters who on June 9….said no to this kind of politics. Voted for a politics that would actually represent them. Vote against the political system. Against the donor class. Against the entrenched forces.»
Platner, who ran an outsider campaign, said that if he had continued his bid, he’d lose the ability to raise money and access crucial voter data, essential elements to any campaign.
«Those in power who have the ability to do so are using these allegations as an excuse to take away all the things that we need to run a campaign,» he charged.
Since last Wednesday’s announcement, a slew of Democrats have jumped into the race to succeed Platner as the party’s Senate nominee.
The list includes three gubernatorial contenders who came up short in last month’s primary: progressive Troy Jackson, a former state Senate president who was also backed by Sanders; Nirav Shah, the former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention; and Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows.
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Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine tours a food bank in Harrison, Maine, on May 5, 2026. The food bank was able to expand thanks to federal funding that the senator helped obtain. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
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Collins, a moderate Republican who at times votes against President Donald Trump’s agenda, is running for a sixth six-year term in the Senate.
Republicans currently control the chamber 53-47 and flipping the Senate seat in left-leaning Maine is a key part of the Democrats’ path to retake the majority.
chuck schumer, graham platner, bernie sanders, democrats elections, midterm elections, maine, senate elections
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