Trump admin. cuts funding for program that tracked Ukrainian youngsters kidnapped by Russia

Funding for a U.S.-based program that tracks hundreds of Ukrainian youngsters allegedly kidnapped and brought to Russia has been reduce and U.S. lawmakers are frightened {that a} database with essential data has been completely deleted, based on a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed by greater than 15 lawmakers.

“This data is absolutely crucial to Ukraine’s efforts to return their children home …The foreign aid freeze has jeopardized, and may ultimately eliminate, our informational support of Ukraine on this front,” the letter states.

In an electronic mail to NPR on Wednesday, a Yale College spokesperson acknowledged that funding for the Yale College of Public Well being Humanitarian Analysis Lab (HRL)’s work on the struggle in Ukraine, which included the analysis on the kidnapped youngsters, has been “discontinued.”

“While we are not in a position to comment on the State Department’s decision, we do recognize the importance of HRL’s work and its contributions to international efforts to protect vulnerable populations, including Ukrainian children,” the assertion stated.

One of many lawmakers behind the letter to Rubio is Rep. Greg Landsman, a Democrat from Ohio. He spoke with NPR All Issues Thought of‘s Ailsa Chang.

“The data is really important because in order to get the kids back, folks at the negotiating table have to be able to say, ‘We know where these children are,'” Landsman stated. “So without this data, there’s real concern that we might not be able to get all of these children back.”

On Wednesday, State Division spokesperson Tammy Bruce stated the allegation of lacking information is fake. “We know who is running the data and we know fully that the data exists and it’s not been deleted and it’s not missing.”

In a press release concerning President Trump’s Wednesday morning cellphone name with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Rubio stated the 2 leaders mentioned “the children who had gone missing from Ukraine during the war, including the ones that had been abducted. President Trump promised to work closely with both parties to help make sure those children were returned home.”

This interview has been calmly edited for size and readability.

Interview highlights

Alisa Chang: The Trump administration has ended its funding of the Ukraine Battle Observatory, which is housed at Yale College’s Humanitarian Analysis Lab. Are you able to simply very briefly clarify what precisely does this group do?

Greg Landsman: So, they monitor these youngsters in a manner that is unbiased and can be utilized in the end to get them house. And also you’re speaking about demographic data, names, affirmation of the truth that they had been stolen, the place they had been taken from after which utilizing satellite tv for pc information the place they’re now.

Chang: And why do you assume it is particularly within the curiosity of the U.S. to fund this sort of work?

Landsman: Effectively, we’ve got been a companion, clearly, in making an attempt to get Putin out of Ukraine and making an attempt to guard Japanese Europe. And we’ve got invested rather a lot within the Ukrainian folks. One of many issues that stood out for me over the course of the final couple of years was what was taking place to those youngsters. Along with the awfulness of struggle and the casualties that Putin was stealing youngsters — and within the strategy of searching for the info to verify that, the truth is, we had the fitting numbers and we had been utilizing the fitting data — we discovered that the database disappeared and it disappeared as a result of they reduce funding for the work.

Chang: Can we discuss a little bit bit extra about this database, like precisely what sort of data has been uncovered and is a part of this database? And the way does that data assist Ukrainians get these youngsters again house?

Landsman: The Ukrainians wished an unbiased, third-party succesful entity that was run by way of the State Division to confirm the names and [verify that] the kids had been nonetheless alive and to have the ability to use satellite tv for pc data to trace the kids in order that we did not lose them. And when the struggle involves an finish — and hopefully, we’re getting there — that any ceasefire settlement would contain the return of the kids. And so, it is loads of demographic information and loads of satellite tv for pc data that we now cannot discover.

Chang: The State Division has confirmed that they did cancel the contract to fund the Ukraine Battle Observatory. Have you ever gotten any causes as to why, particularly?

Landsman: Simply the quote from one of many directors over there who stated that it was a part of saving cash however does not save any cash. The cash had been spent. And even when it was one thing that, you realize, ought to have been checked out, I do not assume there’s an American Republican, Democrat, unbiased who would wish to see us quit on these youngsters.

1000’s of flags had been planted on the makeshift memorial to fallen troopers on Maidan Sq. in Kiev Ukraine on March 06, 2025. Every flag is a tribute to somebody who was killed by Russia’s struggle in Ukraine.

Philippe de Poulpiquet/Hans Lucas/AFP through Getty Photographs

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Philippe de Poulpiquet/Hans Lucas/AFP through Getty Photographs

Chang: Whether it is true, that this information from the repository has been deleted, even completely deleted — are you able to speak about what can be the impression of not having this data?

Landsman: It is the distinction between displaying as much as a negotiation with a listing of all of the names and places and never having any record in any respect. And so, the impression may very well be…

Chang: There is not any different supply for this data. The situation of the whereabouts of those youngsters.

Landsman: [It is] our understanding that that is the first, if not, that is the one supply.

Chang: In case you consider the info was completely deleted, because the letter you despatched signifies, do you might have any motive to consider that the info is recoverable at this level?

Landsman: We have heard from some of us which can be near the challenge that it’s doable to retrieve the info. So, my hope is that is what finally ends up taking place. The one factor that issues is getting these children house.

Chang: Effectively, given the route at the moment of ceasefire talks between Russia, the U.S. and Ukraine to finish this struggle, how hopeful are you that this specific problem of kid abductions is getting the eye it deserves in the midst of all of the talks?

Landsman: To this point, I have been actually dissatisfied that it hasn’t been entrance and heart. If any individual stole one American baby, you realize, we’d need that to be prime of thoughts. We might need it to be on the prime of the record. And it in all probability can be, you are speaking about 30,000 confirmed youngsters stolen from their households. And it should not even be negotiated. They need to simply be returned. I hope to see within the coming days and weeks this as a prime precedence for the administration.

As famous earlier, State Division spokesperson Tammy Bruce stated the info exists and “it’s not been deleted and it’s not missing.”