‘Another Unconscionable Result’ – US Democrats Demand Answers on Deleted Russian War Crimes Data

In a letter sent to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Democratic lawmakers in Washington demanded to know if crucial data tracking Russian war crimes against children in Ukraine have been deleted and warned of “devastating consequences” if this is the case.

Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH) and others from the Democratic party warned that the data may have been permanently erased following the Trump administration’s decision, as part of a “government efficiency” push headed by Elon Musk, to shut down a Yale University Humanitarian Research Lab program tracking kidnapped and deported Ukrainian children.

The United Nations and other international bodies have labeled the Kremlin’s actions as war crimes.

“We have reason to believe that the data from the repository has been permanently deleted. If true, this would have devastating consequences,” the letter reads.

“Putin has stolen tens of thousands of children from Ukraine from their families and communities.” Landsman wrote. “We can’t abandon them. We have to support every effort to bring these children home.”

Today, more than 1.6 million Ukrainian children remain under Moscow’s control, both in the occupied territories and as a result of deportation to Russia.

These children face systematic Russification, militarization, and ideological indoctrination, in an attempt to erase their Ukrainian identity.

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Keir Starmer, co-leader of efforts to form the so-called coalition of the willing alongside President Macron, is expected to address the meeting of roughly 30 military officials.

In December last year, President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Yale University researchers had identified hundreds of Ukrainian children from Donetsk and Luhansk regions, who had been abducted by Russia since February 2022.

On Wednesday, White House Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said that Trump spoke to President Volodymyr Zelensky about the abducted children and promised to “work closely” with both the Russian and Ukrainian sides to make sure they are brought home.

However, the Trump administration has also withdrawn from the International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA), and Trump has shown little eagerness to pursue the Kremlin’s crimes in any way.

“As if sidelining Ukraine from negotiations & cozying up to Putin wasn’t enough, the admin is now helping whitewash Russian war crimes by undermining work to return ~35k Ukrainian children abducted by Russia,” Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee wrote on social media.

“Another unconscionable result of so-called Trump-Musk ‘efficiency.’”