The U.S. has temporarily restored funding to a project documenting abducted Ukrainian children, giving researchers the chance to pass on their work to agencies investigating potential Russian war crimes.
The Ukraine Conflict Observatory initiative, led by Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab and funded by the U.S. government, has helped track thousands of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia, but was expected to come to an end on March 28.
Its termination raised concerns about the potential loss of access to a trove of information, including satellite imagery and other data, about some 30,000 minors.
But according to the Washington Post, the additional six weeks of funding will allow the project to finish transferring its documents and archive to EUROPOL, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, so that the evidence collected can be used in criminal prosecutions.
The initial decision to end the program had barred the transmission of such documents to prosecutors, the Post reported. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the illegal transfer of Ukrainian children.
“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 U.S. State Department spokesperson confirmed on Thursday.
“It is part of the standard close-out procedures for terminated programs.”
President Donald Trump’s government put a stop to the project’s funding in light of a broad review of public spending.
Ukraine says that more than 19,500 children have been taken to Russia or Russian-occupied territory during the war in Ukraine without the consent of family or guardians, calling the abductions a war crime that meets the UN treaty definition of genocide.
Russia has said it has been evacuating people voluntarily and to protect vulnerable children from the war zone.
Its termination raised concerns about the potential loss of access to a trove of information, including satellite imagery and other data, about some 30,000 minors.
But according to the Washington Post, the additional six weeks of funding will allow the project to finish transferring its documents and archive to EUROPOL, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, so that the evidence collected can be used in criminal prosecutions.
The initial decision to end the program had barred the transmission of such documents to prosecutors, the Post reported. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the illegal transfer of Ukrainian children.
“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 U.S. State Department spokesperson confirmed on Thursday.
“It is part of the standard close-out procedures for terminated programs.”
President Donald Trump’s government put a stop to the project’s funding in light of a broad review of public spending.
Ukraine says that more than 19,500 children have been taken to Russia or Russian-occupied territory during the war in Ukraine without the consent of family or guardians, calling the abductions a war crime that meets the UN treaty definition of genocide.
Russia has said it has been evacuating people voluntarily and to protect vulnerable children from the war zone.
In March 2023, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Putin and his children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, over the deportation of the children. Russia denounced the warrants as “outrageous and unacceptable.”Russia’s officials have stated that children must have 🇷🇺 citizenship to be adopted in Russia. Once adopted, adoptive parents can change the child’s name, birth date, and place of birth. This presents a significant barrier to identifying the children taken by Russia.
— Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) at YSPH (@HRL_YaleSPH) March 18, 2025
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