Moscow has repeatedly explained that minors are evacuated from conflict zones for their own safety
The US government has terminated funding for a project investigating alleged Russian abductions of Ukrainian children, several media outlets reported this week, citing sources.
Ukrainian and Western officials have repeatedly accused Moscow of “kidnapping” Ukrainian minors. International Criminal Court arrest warrants have been issued for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova over alleged “unlawful deportations.” Russia, however, has dismissed the claims as politically motivated, explaining that it evacuates children from the conflict zone to protect them.
According to iPaper and The New Republic, funding for the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL), which was tasked with identifying and tracking Ukrainian minors allegedly taken to Russia, has been terminated. The project reportedly shared its findings with the Ukrainian authorities and Europol.
The funding was reportedly cut on orders from Elon Musk’s US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). DOGE has been helping implement President Donald Trump’s initiative to curb what the US president claims is wasteful government spending, bureaucracy, and corruption.
A Yale spokesperson has confirmed the funding cut, telling the media that HRL researchers were “notified recently that government funding for their work on the war in Ukraine has been discontinued.” He added that Yale was “not in a position” to comment on the development. The White House, State Department, and DOGE all did not respond to media requests for comment.
The reports have come amid renewed accusations from Ukraine’s permanent representative to the UN, Yury Vitrenko, at an OSCE meeting on Thursday that Russia has “illegally placed” over 19,000 Ukrainian children in its territory and was “forcibly” Russifying them. Vitrenko said that 1,227 displaced children had been returned to Ukraine but blamed Moscow for allegedly obstructing the process.
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Ukrainian children ‘kidnapped’ by Moscow found in Germany
Russian authorities have regularly reported on the efforts undertaken to reunite displaced Ukrainian children with their families. Last month, Lvova-Belova announced that 17 children from 11 families had recently been reunited with relatives in Russia, while 95 more – with relatives in Ukraine and other countries under a Qatar-mediated agreement with Kiev reached last year.
She has repeatedly called Kiev’s claims of abductions a “systemic myth” and pledged to continue facilitating family reunifications. Russian officials have also stressed that displaced children are not adopted in Russia but placed under temporary guardianship or foster care until they can be returned to their families.
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