State Dept denies deleting data on halted program tracking abducted Ukrainian children

To the best of MITRE’s knowledge and belief, the research data that was compiled has not been deleted and is currently maintained by a former partner on this contract. Department of State has been made aware of data disposition,

MITRE told CNN

The State Department does not hold the data for the Conflict Observatory. The data resides on a platform owned by MITRE as part of the program,

the unnamed spokesperson said, referring questions to the non-profit organization MITRE

Tammy Brucestate Department spokesperson

The funding has been cut based on the assessments that we’ve been making regarding what was defining work within our framework of what was in America’s interests,

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Wednesday

Yale HRL’s funding has been terminated and the status of the secure evidence repository is unknown. This vital resource cannot be lost,

it said

Following a review, the U.S. Department of State decided to terminate the foreign assistance award supporting the Ukraine Conflict Observatory,

a different spokesperson said

President Trump promised to work closely with both parties to help make sure those children were returned home,

the White House said

The president of the most powerful country in the world, saying, I'm going to do something here... I think that's a pretty good, clear indication that we can still work on issues that matter and make them happen without it being in a certain structure that has existed,

she said

Putin has stolen tens of thousands of children from Ukraine from their families and communities. We can't abandon them. We have to support every effort to bring these children home."

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Landsman wrote

William Schabascanadian academic in the field of international criminal and human rights law

Certainly a stupid mistake, but unlikely it is a war crime. If it could be shown that the purpose of deleting the database was to sabotage the investigation it might then be possible to charge it as a crime of obstructing justice. But even obstructing justice is not a 'war crime.'

In a statement to Newsweek, when asked how the deletion war crimes evidence might be viewed, William Schabas, a professor of international law at Middlesex University London, said

Researchers at the Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) were notified recently that government funding for their work on the war in Ukraine has been discontinued."

A Yale University spokesperson previously told Newsweek

Our government is providing an essential service – one that does not require the transfer of weapons or cash to Ukraine – in pursuit of the noble goal of rescuing these children. We must, immediately, resume the work to help Ukraine bring these children home,

the lawmakers' letter said

These egregious, openly acknowledged violations of the rights of children afforded under international law demand consequences,

the letter said

They took $26 million of U.S. taxpayers money used for war crimes data and threw it into the woodchipper, including the dossiers on all the children,

the person said

Greg Landsmanohio Representative

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

the Democratic lawmakers, led by Ohio Representative Greg Landsman, said in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent seen by Reuters on Tuesday and due to be sent on Wednesday

If you wanted to protect President Putin from prosecution, you nuke that thing. And they did it. It’s the final court-admissible version with all the metadata,

the source said

This data is absolutely crucial to Ukraine’s efforts to return their children home,

wrote the U.S. lawmakers, including Democratic Reps

Any State Dept. related inquiries need to be answered by the Public Affairs Office at the Dept. of State,

MITRE spokeswoman Lisa Fasoldsaid in a statement

The abduction of children strikes a nerve that I hope will help awaken more Americans to the horrors of the Russian invasion and occupation of parts of Ukraine,

Galen Carey, vice president of government relations at the National Association of Evangelicals, told The Post

Capturing the version of a digital artifact’s metadata at the time it was deemed relevant to an alleged crime is the basis of being able to admit it in a court of law,

said the researcher

This vital resource cannot be lost,

says a copy of the letter, obtained by The Post