Group tracking Russian abductions of Ukrainian children prepares to shut down following Trump admin funding cut
'Right now, we are running on fumes, we have about two weeks of money left, mostly through individual donations from our website. As of July 1, we lay off all of our staff across Ukraine and other teams and our work tracking the kids officially ends. We are waiting for our Dunkirk moment, for someone to come rescue us so that we can go attempt to help rescue the kids,' Nathaniel Raymond, the Executive Director of the Humanitarian Research Lab at the Yale School of Public Health, told CNN.
The Ukraine Conflict Observatory, an effort led by Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab, has collected more than three years of data following Russia's invasion of Ukraine with the backing of State Department funding. The effort was launched in May 2022 'to capture, analyze, and make widely available evidence of Russia-perpetrated war crimes and other atrocities in Ukraine.'
The database currently includes the information and identities of over 30,000 Ukrainian children who were allegedly abducted by Russia across 100 locations, explained a source familiar with the data. The initiative's closure will leave a major blind spot because no other body has so closely tracked the abduction of Ukrainian children.
The lab's work has supported six International Criminal Court indictments against Russia, including two related to the abduction of children, Raymond said.
Earlier this year, the effort's funding was cut off as part of Department of Government Efficiency cuts, which resulted in researchers at Yale losing access to the database. But the funding was reinstated for a short time by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to ensure that the data was transferred to the European Union's law enforcement agency, Europol, so that it could be used as evidence in future war crimes cases.
The transfer to Europol is expected to happen within hours or days now that the data and evidence of the alleged war crimes – including attacks on energy infrastructure, filtration sites, and attacks on civilian infrastructure – has been finalized for the time being by researchers at Yale and shared with the State Department, the source said.
CNN has asked the State Department for comment.
The scramble to keep the program alive has unleashed new efforts by a wide variety of individuals who are looking for private funding that could keep the effort alive.
Members of Congress defended the observatory's work and its necessity earlier this year and they are planning to urge the administration not to cut the funding once again, congressional aides said.
Congressional offices have learned that the State Department notified Congress late last year of their intent to disperse about $8 million in funding for the program, congressional aides said. They are trying to find out if that money has been reprogrammed or could still be allocated to the effort, they added.
Meanwhile, Ukraine and Russia began prisoner swaps this week, with Ukrainian soldiers who have spent nearly the entire duration of the war in captivity among those returning home. But efforts to secure an end to the war appear out of reach for the time being. And without future data from the initiative – which is sourced from satellite imagery and biometric data – efforts to secure the release of Ukrainian children captured in the future could be severely hampered.
'This data is absolutely crucial to Ukraine's efforts to return their children home,' House lawmakers wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in March.
CNN's Jennifer Hansler contributed to this report.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
9 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Lucy Letby has 'new hope' as barrister prepares to submit appeal file
Lucy Letby was a 'broken person' but now has a 'new hope', her barrister has said. Letby's parents contacted Mark McDonald almost a year ago and requested he take over from her previous lawyer and free her from prison, he said in an interview with the Sunday Times. A week later he met Letby, who is serving 15 whole-life orders after murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others, with two attempts on one of her victims, between June 2015 and June 2016. Mr McDonald said he is submitting 'new evidence' to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, and has also spent the past year working to boost public criticism of her convictions. He gathered a panel of 14 neonatal and paediatric experts, shared the babies' medical notes with them, and held a press conference casting doubt on the prosecution's case. Lawyers for the families of Letby's victims previously rubbished the panel's findings as 'full of analytical holes' and 'a rehash' of the defence case heard at trial. READ MORE: DWP full list of 22 medical conditions qualifying for up to £200 a week READ MORE: Live Lotto results for Saturday, August 16: National Lottery winning numbers from tonight's draw In July, Cheshire Police passed evidence of further allegations related to baby deaths and collapses at the hospitals where Letby, 35, worked. Mr McDonald, who is known for making high-profile appeals, told the Sunday Times: 'Remember, 12 months ago, she'd lost every argument. She had been saying that she was not guilty right from the beginning and nobody believed her. 'She went through a whole trial and she was convicted. She went to the Court of Appeal and she was convicted. She had a retrial; she was convicted. She went to the Court of Appeal again; she was convicted. And that was it. 'There, you have a broken person. But today, after everything that has happened in the last 12 months, she's got new hope.' McDonald, 59, estimated he has spent thousands of hours on Letby's case and spoke to the newspaper while on holiday with his two children, aged three and four. He said he speaks to the killer at least once every two weeks and visits her each month at Bronzefield prison, in Ashford, Surrey. 'I'm on holiday in Devon and I'm working on (the case). I had a telephone conference with Lucy yesterday. I won't stop. I will not stop until she is out,' he said. It is important to 'win the public narrative' of a potential miscarriage of justice case before taking on the legal narrative, because 'the Court of Appeal will know that the country is going to be looking at them', he added. The barrister claimed he has never submitted this much evidence to the CCRC and 'if this is not referred back to the Court of Appeal then one has to question the purpose of the CCRC'. The possible potential offences against Letby are now being considered by lawyers at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).The news emerged hours after police confirmed three people who were part of the senior leadership team at the hospital where Letby worked have been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter. Cheshire Constabulary said the suspects, who occupied senior positions at the Countess of Chester Hospital (CoCH) between 2015 and 2016, were arrested and later bailed pending further inquiries. Police said corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter probes are continuing. Mr McDonald previously said the police's announcement about potential new charges against Letby came at a 'very sensitive time' and that a proper and full public inquiry into failings by the hospital is needed. In the latest interview, Mr McDonald told the Sunday Times: 'I'm not naive; I'm a criminal defence barrister – I've represented many people over the years who are guilty. 'But I'm also able to see very clearly where this has gone wrong. There's no forensic evidence. There's no CCTV. There's no eyewitness evidence. 'There's just a theory by a man called Dewi Evans,' he said, referring to the person who was the lead prosecution medical expert in her trial.
Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Yahoo
EU leaders to hold talks after Trump-Putin talks upend Ukraine ceasefire push
France, Germany, and the UK are set to hold virtual talks on Sunday after the Trump-Putin summit derailed hopes for a Ukraine ceasefire. Trump, who had previously pushed for an immediate halt to fighting, has pivoted toward backing a broader peace agreement – raising alarms in Kyiv and across Europe. As Zelensky heads to Washington, EU powers are seeking to defend their role in the peace process. Follow our liveblog for the latest developments. (FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
38 minutes ago
The Trump administration wants to end the UN peacekeeping in Lebanon. Europe is pushing back
WASHINGTON -- The future of U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon has split the United States and its European allies, raising implications for security in the Middle East and becoming the latest snag to vex relations between the U.S. and key partners like France, Britain and Italy. At issue is the peacekeeping operation known as UNIFIL, whose mandate expires at the end of August and will need to be renewed by the U.N. Security Council to continue. It was created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after Israel's 1978 invasion, and its mission was expanded following the monthlong 2006 war between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah. The multinational force has played a significant role in monitoring the security situation in southern Lebanon for decades, including during the Israel-Hezbollah war last year, but has drawn criticism from both sides and numerous U.S. lawmakers, some of whom now hold prominent roles in President Donald Trump's administration or wield new influence with the White House. Trump administration political appointees came into office this year with the aim of shutting down UNIFIL as soon as possible. They regard the operation as an ineffectual waste of money that is merely delaying the goal of eliminating Hezbollah's influence and restoring full security control to the Lebanese Armed Forces that the government says it is not yet capable of doing. After securing major cuts in U.S. funding to the peacekeeping force, Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed off early last week on a plan that would wind down and end UNIFIL in the next six months, according to Trump administration officials and congressional aides familiar with the discussions. It's another step as the Trump administration drastically pares back its foreign affairs priorities and budget, including expressing skepticism of international alliances and cutting funding to U.N. agencies and missions. The transatlantic divide also has been apparent on issues ranging from Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza and the Russia-Ukraine conflict to trade, technology and free speech issues. Israel has for years sought an end to UNIFIL's mandate, and renewal votes have often come after weeks of political wrangling. Now, the stakes are particularly high after last year's war and more vigorous opposition in Washington. European nations, notably France and Italy, have objected to winding down UNIFIL. With the support of Tom Barrack, U.S. ambassador to Turkey and envoy to Lebanon, they successfully lobbied Rubio and others to support a one-year extension of the peacekeeping mandate followed by a time-certain wind-down period of six months, according to the administration officials and congressional aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private diplomatic negotiations. Israel also reluctantly agreed to an extension, they said. The European argument was that prematurely ending UNIFIL before the Lebanese army is able to fully secure the border area would create a vacuum that Hezbollah could easily exploit. The French noted that when a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali was terminated before government troops were ready to deal with security threats, Islamic extremists moved in. With the U.S. easing off, the issue ahead of the U.N. vote expected at the end of August now appears to be resistance by France and others to setting a firm deadline for the operation to end after the one-year extension, according to the officials and congressional aides. French officials did not respond to requests for comment. The final French draft resolution, obtained by The Associated Press, does not include a date for UNIFIL's withdrawal, which U.S. officials say is required for their support. Instead, it would extend the peacekeeping mission for one year and indicates the U.N. Security Council's 'intention to work on a withdrawal.' But even if the mandate is renewed, the peacekeeping mission might be scaled down for financial reasons, with the U.N. system likely facing drastic budget cuts, said a U.N. official, who was not authorized to comment to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity. One of the U.S. officials said an option being considered was reducing UNIFIL's numbers while boosting its technological means to monitor the situation on the ground. There are about 10,000 peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, while the Lebanese army has around 6,000 soldiers, a number that is supposed to increase to 10,000. Hezbollah supporters in Lebanon have frequently accused the U.N. mission of collusion with Israel and sometimes attacked peacekeepers on patrol. Israel, meanwhile, has accused the peacekeepers of turning a blind eye to Hezbollah's military activities in southern Lebanon and lobbied for its mandate to end. Sarit Zehavi, a former Israeli military intelligence analyst and founder of the Israeli think tank Alma Research and Education Center, said UNIFIL has played a 'damaging role with regard to the mission of disarming Hezbollah in south Lebanon.' She pointed to the discovery of Hezbollah tunnels and weapons caches close to UNIFIL facilities during and after last year's Israel-Hezbollah war, when much of the militant group's senior leadership was killed and much of its arsenal destroyed. Hezbollah is now under increasing pressure to give up the rest of its weapons. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said UNIFIL continues to discover unauthorized weapons, including rocket launchers, mortar rounds and bomb fuses, this week, which it reported to the Lebanese army. Under the U.S.- and France-brokered ceasefire, Israel and Hezbollah were to withdraw from southern Lebanon, with the Lebanese army taking control in conjunction with UNIFIL. Israel has continued to occupy five strategic points on the Lebanese side and carry out near-daily airstrikes that it says aim to stop Hezbollah from regrouping. Lebanese officials have called for UNIFIL to remain, saying the country's cash-strapped and overstretched army is not yet able to patrol the full area on its own until it. Retired Lebanese Army Gen. Khalil Helou said that if UNIFIL's mandate were to abruptly end, soldiers would need to be pulled away from the porous border with Syria, where smuggling is rife, or from other areas inside of Lebanon — 'and this could have consequences for the stability' of the country. UNIFIL 'is maybe not fulfilling 100% what the Western powers or Israel desire. But for Lebanon, their presence is important,' he said. The United Nations also calls the peacekeepers critical to regional stability, Dujarric said. UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said deciding on the renewal of the mandate is the prerogative of the U.N. Security Council. 'We are here to assist the parties in implementation of the mission's mandate and we're waiting for the final decision,' he said.
