Washington: The U.S. State Department announced on Thursday that it is providing short-term funding for an initiative documenting abducted Ukrainian children, following the Trump administration’s decision to halt the program on January 25. The initiative, led by Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab and funded by the U.S. government, has tracked thousands of Ukrainian children allegedly taken by Russia.
The program, known as the Ukraine Conflict Observatory, was discontinued after former President Donald Trump ordered a broad review aimed at curbing what he considers unnecessary spending of U.S. taxpayer funds on initiatives that do not align with American interests.
Ukraine claims that more than 19,500 children have been taken to Russia or Russian-occupied territories without parental or guardian consent, calling the actions a war crime that meets the United Nations treaty definition of genocide. Russia, however, has insisted that it is evacuating children voluntarily to ensure their safety from conflict zones.
“Funding is being provided for a short period while the Conflict Observatory implementers ensure the proper transfer of the critical data on the children to the appropriate authorities,” a State Department spokesperson said on Thursday. “It is part of the standard close-out procedures for terminated programs.”
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Earlier this month, Democratic lawmakers urged the Trump administration to reinstate the program, expressing concerns over the potential loss of crucial data, including satellite imagery and other intelligence, about approximately 30,000 children taken from Ukraine.
In March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, over the deportation of Ukrainian children. Moscow dismissed the warrants as “outrageous and unacceptable.”
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