diff --git a/.changes/v1.15/BUG FIXES-20251119-230813.yaml b/.changes/v1.15/BUG FIXES-20251119-230813.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b95e0c0ffcf0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changes/v1.15/BUG FIXES-20251119-230813.yaml	
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+kind: BUG FIXES
+body: 'core: Fixed an issue where early SIGINT (Ctrl+C) was ignored during the graph walk phase'
+time: 2025-11-19T23:08:13.02625091+02:00
+custom:
+    Issue: "31371"
diff --git a/internal/backend/local/backend_apply.go b/internal/backend/local/backend_apply.go
index 0dd3704950c4..74087bf8eb1b 100644
--- a/internal/backend/local/backend_apply.go
+++ b/internal/backend/local/backend_apply.go
@@ -63,6 +63,20 @@ func (b *Local) opApply(
 		op.ReportResult(runningOp, diags)
 		return
 	}
+
+	// Set the stop context so that the core context can check for early
+	// cancellation.
+	lr.Core.SetStopContext(stopCtx)
+
+	// Watch for stop signals and stop the core context.
+	// We do this in a goroutine because Core.Stop blocks until the operation
+	// completes, and we want to be able to return from opApply if necessary
+	// (though usually we'll wait for the operation to complete).
+	go func() {
+		<-cancelCtx.Done()
+		lr.Core.Stop()
+	}()
+
 	// the state was locked during successful context creation; unlock the state
 	// when the operation completes
 	defer func() {
@@ -113,6 +127,17 @@ func (b *Local) opApply(
 			return
 		}
 
+		// If we were stopped during the plan, we should return immediately.
+		if stopCtx.Err() != nil {
+			diags = diags.Append(tfdiags.Sourceless(
+				tfdiags.Error,
+				"Operation cancelled",
+				"The operation was cancelled.",
+			))
+			op.ReportResult(runningOp, diags)
+			return
+		}
+
 		trivialPlan := !plan.Applyable
 		hasUI := op.UIOut != nil && op.UIIn != nil
 		mustConfirm := hasUI && !op.AutoApprove && !trivialPlan
diff --git a/internal/backend/local/backend_apply_stop_test.go b/internal/backend/local/backend_apply_stop_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..1181ab7e9f41
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/backend/local/backend_apply_stop_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+// Copyright (c) HashiCorp, Inc.
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: BUSL-1.1
+
+package local
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/internal/backend/backendrun"
+	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/internal/configs/configschema"
+	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/internal/providers"
+)
+
+func TestLocal_applyStopEarly(t *testing.T) {
+	b := TestLocal(t)
+
+	schema := applyFixtureSchema()
+	schema.DataSources = map[string]providers.Schema{
+		"test_data": {
+			Body: &configschema.Block{},
+		},
+	}
+
+	// Create a provider that blocks on ReadDataSource
+	p := TestLocalProvider(t, b, "test", schema)
+
+	// We need to make sure ReadDataSource is called and blocks
+	readCalled := make(chan struct{})
+	block := make(chan struct{})
+
+	// Override the ReadDataSourceFn
+	p.ReadDataSourceFn = func(req providers.ReadDataSourceRequest) providers.ReadDataSourceResponse {
+		close(readCalled)
+		<-block
+		return providers.ReadDataSourceResponse{
+			State: req.Config,
+		}
+	}
+
+	op, configCleanup, done := testOperationApply(t, "./testdata/apply-stop")
+	defer configCleanup()
+
+	// Create a context that we can cancel
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
+
+	// Cancel immediately to simulate "early" interrupt
+	cancel()
+
+	run, err := b.Operation(ctx, op)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("bad: %s", err)
+	}
+
+	// Wait for result
+	doneCh := make(chan struct{})
+	go func() {
+		<-run.Done()
+		close(doneCh)
+	}()
+
+	select {
+	case <-doneCh:
+		// Success (it returned)
+	case <-readCalled:
+		// It reached the provider! This means it didn't stop early.
+		close(block) // Unblock to cleanup
+		t.Fatal("Operation reached provider despite early cancellation")
+	case <-time.After(5 * time.Second):
+		t.Fatal("Operation timed out")
+	}
+
+	if run.Result == backendrun.OperationSuccess {
+		t.Fatal("Operation succeeded but should have been cancelled")
+	}
+
+	if errOutput := done(t).Stderr(); errOutput != "" {
+		// We expect some error output due to cancellation, but let's log it just in case
+		t.Logf("error output:\n%s", errOutput)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/backend/local/backend_refresh.go b/internal/backend/local/backend_refresh.go
index 14e9301d9cc2..2e8c745ae3b8 100644
--- a/internal/backend/local/backend_refresh.go
+++ b/internal/backend/local/backend_refresh.go
@@ -55,6 +55,10 @@ func (b *Local) opRefresh(
 		return
 	}
 
+	// Set the stop context so that the core context can check for early
+	// cancellation.
+	lr.Core.SetStopContext(stopCtx)
+
 	// the state was locked during successful context creation; unlock the state
 	// when the operation completes
 	defer func() {
diff --git a/internal/backend/local/testdata/apply-stop/main.tf b/internal/backend/local/testdata/apply-stop/main.tf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..dd1b59ac6b6e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/backend/local/testdata/apply-stop/main.tf
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+data "test_data" "foo" {
+}
diff --git a/internal/terraform/context.go b/internal/terraform/context.go
index 425c4faf66ad..3aebd68f2544 100644
--- a/internal/terraform/context.go
+++ b/internal/terraform/context.go
@@ -106,10 +106,22 @@ type Context struct {
 	runCond             *sync.Cond
 	runContext          context.Context
 	runContextCancel    context.CancelFunc
+	stopContext         context.Context
 }
 
 // (additional methods on Context can be found in context_*.go files.)
 
+// SetStopContext sets a context that, when cancelled, will cause any
+// currently-running or future operation on this Context to be cancelled.
+//
+// This is an alternative to calling Stop(), for cases where the caller
+// already has a context representing the lifecycle of the operation.
+func (c *Context) SetStopContext(ctx context.Context) {
+	c.l.Lock()
+	defer c.l.Unlock()
+	c.stopContext = ctx
+}
+
 // NewContext creates a new Context structure.
 //
 // Once a Context is created, the caller must not access or mutate any of
diff --git a/internal/terraform/context_apply.go b/internal/terraform/context_apply.go
index dc894b075510..8af2658c91eb 100644
--- a/internal/terraform/context_apply.go
+++ b/internal/terraform/context_apply.go
@@ -93,6 +93,13 @@ func (c *Context) Apply(plan *plans.Plan, config *configs.Config, opts *ApplyOpt
 // to be nil even when the state isn't, if the apply didn't complete enough for
 // the evaluation scope to produce consistent results.
 func (c *Context) ApplyAndEval(plan *plans.Plan, config *configs.Config, opts *ApplyOpts) (*states.State, *lang.Scope, tfdiags.Diagnostics) {
+	c.l.Lock()
+	if c.stopContext != nil && c.stopContext.Err() != nil {
+		c.l.Unlock()
+		return nil, nil, nil
+	}
+	c.l.Unlock()
+
 	defer c.acquireRun("apply")()
 	var diags tfdiags.Diagnostics
 
diff --git a/internal/terraform/context_import.go b/internal/terraform/context_import.go
index 6629e8665f3b..28ff534e86e6 100644
--- a/internal/terraform/context_import.go
+++ b/internal/terraform/context_import.go
@@ -49,6 +49,13 @@ type ImportTarget struct {
 // an import there is a failure, all previously imported resources remain
 // imported.
 func (c *Context) Import(config *configs.Config, prevRunState *states.State, opts *ImportOpts) (*states.State, tfdiags.Diagnostics) {
+	c.l.Lock()
+	if c.stopContext != nil && c.stopContext.Err() != nil {
+		c.l.Unlock()
+		return nil, nil
+	}
+	c.l.Unlock()
+
 	var diags tfdiags.Diagnostics
 
 	// Hold a lock since we can modify our own state here
diff --git a/internal/terraform/context_validate.go b/internal/terraform/context_validate.go
index af484a579535..7e13f148db08 100644
--- a/internal/terraform/context_validate.go
+++ b/internal/terraform/context_validate.go
@@ -60,6 +60,13 @@ type ValidateOpts struct {
 //
 // The opts can be nil, and the ExternalProviders field of the opts can be nil.
 func (c *Context) Validate(config *configs.Config, opts *ValidateOpts) tfdiags.Diagnostics {
+	c.l.Lock()
+	if c.stopContext != nil && c.stopContext.Err() != nil {
+		c.l.Unlock()
+		return nil
+	}
+	c.l.Unlock()
+
 	defer c.acquireRun("validate")()
 
 	var diags tfdiags.Diagnostics
diff --git a/internal/terraform/context_walk.go b/internal/terraform/context_walk.go
index 55d0bd9571a2..65295fa68b60 100644
--- a/internal/terraform/context_walk.go
+++ b/internal/terraform/context_walk.go
@@ -180,6 +180,13 @@ func (c *Context) graphWalker(graph *Graph, operation walkOperation, opts *graph
 		deferred.SetExternalDependencyDeferred()
 	}
 
+	c.l.Lock()
+	stopCtx := c.stopContext
+	c.l.Unlock()
+	if stopCtx == nil {
+		stopCtx = c.runContext
+	}
+
 	return &ContextGraphWalker{
 		Context:                 c,
 		State:                   state,
@@ -196,7 +203,7 @@ func (c *Context) graphWalker(graph *Graph, operation walkOperation, opts *graph
 		ExternalProviderConfigs: opts.ExternalProviderConfigs,
 		MoveResults:             opts.MoveResults,
 		Operation:               operation,
-		StopContext:             c.runContext,
+		StopContext:             stopCtx,
 		PlanTimestamp:           opts.PlanTimeTimestamp,
 		functionResults:         opts.FunctionResults,
 		Forget:                  opts.Forget,
diff --git a/internal/terraform/graph.go b/internal/terraform/graph.go
index d641fb57b4d8..b60f47653474 100644
--- a/internal/terraform/graph.go
+++ b/internal/terraform/graph.go
@@ -199,7 +199,20 @@ func (g *Graph) walk(walker GraphWalker) tfdiags.Diagnostics {
 		return
 	}
 
-	return g.AcyclicGraph.Walk(walkFn)
+	diags := g.AcyclicGraph.Walk(walkFn)
+
+	// If the operation was cancelled, we'll get a lot of "Operation cancelled"
+	// errors from the graph walk. We want to filter these out so that we don't
+	// spam the user with them. The backend will add a single "Operation cancelled"
+	// error if the context was cancelled.
+	var filtered tfdiags.Diagnostics
+	for _, d := range diags {
+		if d.Description().Summary == "Operation cancelled" {
+			continue
+		}
+		filtered = filtered.Append(d)
+	}
+	return filtered
 }
 
 // ResourceGraph derives a graph containing addresses of only the nodes in the
diff --git a/internal/terraform/graph_walk_context.go b/internal/terraform/graph_walk_context.go
index 7dbe5e19d1e0..8d4634d430ff 100644
--- a/internal/terraform/graph_walk_context.go
+++ b/internal/terraform/graph_walk_context.go
@@ -159,9 +159,20 @@ func (w *ContextGraphWalker) init() {
 }
 
 func (w *ContextGraphWalker) Execute(ctx EvalContext, n GraphNodeExecutable) tfdiags.Diagnostics {
+	// Check if we've been stopped.
+	if w.StopContext.Err() != nil {
+		return tfdiags.Diagnostics{tfdiags.Sourceless(tfdiags.Error, "Operation cancelled", "The operation was cancelled.")}
+	}
+
 	// Acquire a lock on the semaphore
 	w.Context.parallelSem.Acquire()
 	defer w.Context.parallelSem.Release()
 
+	// Check again after acquiring the semaphore, in case we were stopped
+	// while waiting.
+	if w.StopContext.Err() != nil {
+		return tfdiags.Diagnostics{tfdiags.Sourceless(tfdiags.Error, "Operation cancelled", "The operation was cancelled.")}
+	}
+
 	return n.Execute(ctx, w.Operation)
 }