If you had pitched a Hollywood screenwriter a few years ago on a plot involving America's royal family, the world's biggest pop star and the shell-pocked front lines of eastern Ukraine, the writer probably would have been sent back to rewrite it for being too implausible. But the reality of America in 2026, as we know, often outdoes any work of fiction.
Connor Kennedy, the 32-year-old son of U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and a man best known to the wider public as Taylor Swift's ex-boyfriend, now finds himself at the center of an improbable international drama: A Moscow court has placed him on Russia's international wanted list and issued an arrest warrant for him in absentia. The charge is participating in combat as a mercenary alongside the Ukrainian military, an offense punishable in Russia by seven to 10 years in prison.
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Instead of an internship at a law firm, the Ukrainian front. Connor Kennedy in a Ukrainian military uniform
(Photo: From X and Instagram)
In the United States, the Kennedy name is the closest thing to British royalty. Connor is the grandson of former Attorney General and Sen. Robert F. "Bobby" Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 while running for president, and the great-nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy. His father, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is now serving as health secretary in the Trump administration and in recent years has himself become one of the most colorful and controversial figures in American politics, including a frequent target of the president's jokes about his well-known fascination with carcasses and dead animals.
Until recently, Connor's name mostly appeared in the gossip pages. In the summer of 2012, when he was 18, he had a highly publicized relationship with Taylor Swift, who was 22 at the time. The two were photographed constantly in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, the Kennedy family's historic summer stronghold, and for several months they provided America's tabloids with an almost perfect combination of pop, money and politics. Swift was already fascinated by the Kennedy family before meeting Connor and even said she had read a book hundreds of pages long about the family's women. Connor's grandmother, Ethel Kennedy, was asked at the time what she thought about the possibility that Swift might one day become her granddaughter-in-law. "I hope we're that lucky," she replied.
The relationship was brief, but given the pace at which events unfolded, it was difficult to tell that at the time. That summer, reports emerged that Swift had bought a seven-bedroom house in Hyannis Port, right next to the Kennedy compound, for $4.8 million. The purchase immediately became proof, in the eyes of the tabloids, that the singer was settling down alongside her new boyfriend's family. In retrospect, the story was somewhat less dramatic: Swift and her parents had been looking at the property for more than a year, before her relationship with Connor. Just seven months after buying it, she sold it for a profit of nearly $1 million.
Connor Kennedy and Taylor Swift a decade ago
(Photo: From X and Instagram)
In August 2012, Connor and Swift attended a Kennedy family wedding in Boston. The bride's mother, Victoria Gifford Kennedy, said Connor texted her only about an hour before the event to ask if he could bring his girlfriend. She said she explicitly asked them not to come, but the two showed up anyway, prompting her to approach Swift and ask her to leave. Actress Kathie Lee Gifford, the bride's stepgrandmother, who was also at the wedding, later confirmed her account. The relationship really did end within a few months, but as often happens with Swift's relationships, it continued producing hits long after it was over. One of them, according to claims at the time, was "Starlight" from the album "Red," which was supposedly written about Connor. In fact, the inspiration was his grandparents, Bobby and Ethel Kennedy, after Swift saw an old photograph of them.
'I knew I was going'
Connor himself followed a much less Hollywood-like path. He graduated with honors from Harvard with a bachelor's degree in history and literature and later studied law at Georgetown University. He is now an attorney at Wisner Baum in Los Angeles, where he specializes in complex plaintiffs' litigation. Among other cases, he handled lawsuits involving Zantac and represented more than 11,000 people who were harmed by the heartburn medication, which contained a substance suspected of being carcinogenic.
Connor with his father, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
(Photo: From X and Instagram)
After Russia invaded Ukraine, Kennedy felt he could not simply stand by and watch. Like many people, I was deeply moved by what I saw happening in Ukraine," he later shared in a candid post on his Instagram account. "When I heard about Ukraine’s International Legion, I knew I was going, and I went to the embassy to enlist the next day."
Connor's October 2022 post:
That summer, he was supposed to be interning at a law firm. Instead, he told his father and stepmother, actress Cheryl Hines, the star of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," that he had canceled the job and was doing "something else" he believed in. He made one request of them: Don't ask me what. His concerned family initially respected his wishes. Then the credit card statement arrived. Kennedy's father later said suspicions arose when Connor's card showed charges in Poland, followed by charges in Ukraine. Gradually, his parents realized that their son, who was supposed to be spending the summer in the air-conditioned offices of a prestigious firm, was actually in a war zone.
Connor went to great lengths not only to conceal his whereabouts from his family but also to conceal his identity from his new comrades. He told only one person in the United States where he was and only one person in Ukraine his real name. "I didn’t want my family or friends to worry, and I didn’t want to be treated differently there," he explained.
He had no previous military experience. As he himself acknowledged, he was not a particularly good shot, either. What he did have, he said, was physical fitness, the ability to carry heavy equipment and a willingness to learn quickly. Above all, he had fire in his belly. He made clear to his commanders that he was prepared to die there. Shortly afterward, he was sent to the northeastern front near Kharkiv, where he served for about two and a half months.
Connor and Swift a decade ago
(Photo: From X and Instagram)
"My time in Ukraine wasn’t long but I saw a lot and I felt a lot. I liked being a soldier, more than I had expected. It is scary. But life is simple, and the rewards for finding courage and doing good are substantial." He added that he knew he was lucky to return alive but would take the same risks again. He called his fellow unit members, who came from different countries, backgrounds and ideologies, "true freedom fighters."
'I am very proud of him'
When he returned to the United States, he was met with a furious reprimand from his father. Kennedy Sr. later acknowledged that he was enraged when he discovered where his son had spent the summer. But Connor had a ready answer: "Dad, this is what you taught me to do: to stand up for what I believe in." The response moved his father deeply. Although the two held very different views on the war, with his son far more supportive of active U.S. intervention on Kyiv's behalf, Kennedy eventually acknowledged: "I’m very proud of this. Of my son."
'I’m very proud of this.' Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
(Photo: Alex Brandon/AP)
In March, Kennedy Jr. married Brazilian singer-songwriter Julia Be in Los Angeles. Now, nearly four years after that summer in Ukraine, Russian authorities have decided to revisit the case. Last week, a Moscow district court approved Kennedy's detention in absentia. According to the state-run TASS news agency, he is accused of "participating as a mercenary in an armed conflict or military activities." A lawyer appointed to represent him in Russia opposed the decision and appealed it, without success. If he is arrested by Russian authorities and convicted, he faces seven to 10 years in prison.
Moscow classifies foreigners who fought alongside Ukrainian forces as mercenaries. Ukraine rejects that designation and says members of the International Legion are legally enlisted in its armed forces. Kennedy himself has yet to issue an official response to the arrest warrant. In the meantime, he continues to work as a lawyer in Los Angeles, and his biography on the firm's website still proudly highlights his service on the Kharkiv front. "It is one of the jobs he is most proud of," the biography says. So it seems unlikely he was planning a trip to Moscow anytime soon.