Deportation of Ukrainian children: Russia may avoid punishment for war crimes

Deportation of Ukrainian children: Russia may avoid punishment for war crimes

By cutting U.S. government programs, Donald Trump’s administration ended an initiative that monitored the mass deportation of children from Ukraine. Democrats intend to demand the reinstatement of the program to hold accountable those responsible for the abduction of children. This was reported by Reuters on March 18, citing legislators.

This decision means researchers lose access to large volumes of data, including satellite images. These data allowed the tracking of about 30,000 children taken out by Russia.

"We have reasons to believe the data has been permanently deleted. If so, it could have devastating consequences," said Democratic Party legislators in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant.

The program’s closure became known on the same day as a report about a planned phone call between Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. An unknown source noted that the cessation of funding led to the destruction of war crimes evidence worth $26 million, which benefits Putin. According to the source, materials, including dossiers on all the children, were simply "thrown into a shredder."

"If your goal is to protect President Putin from prosecution, you will destroy this information. And they did. This was the final court-admissible version, with all metadata," the source emphasized.

In their letter, members of the House of Representatives also called for sanctions against Russian and Belarusian officials involved in the abductions.

"These outrageous and openly acknowledged violations of children’s rights under international law demand consequences," noted the Democrats.

They emphasized that researchers no longer have access to satellite images necessary for tracking the children’s movements. The letter states that this "important service" does not require transferring money or weapons to Ukraine but pursues a "noble goal."

"We must immediately resume work to help Ukraine bring these children home," the Democrats stated.

Additionally, a spokesperson for Eurojust reported that the U.S. is ceasing support for the International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine. The talk is about an institution that collected evidence for prosecution, including that of Putin himself. U.S. special prosecutor at Eurojust, Jessica Kim, is leaving her position.