State Dept. Asked About Canceling Funds For Tracking Abduction Of Ukrainian Children By Russia

3/25/2025

During a press briefing on Monday, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce was asked about the canceling of a grant for a Yale program that tracked the abduction of nearly 30,000 Ukrainian children by Russian forces.

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Transcript

00:00Following up on this story that happened last week about the termination of a grant to the

00:06Yale Initiative, research initiative in trying to track down Ukrainian children that have been

00:11taken by Russia, you mentioned last week in this room that the data exists, it's not been deleted.

00:18Correct. Correct.

00:20We also got a comment from the State Department saying that the department does not hold the data

00:25for the Conflict Exhibitory. The data resides on a platform owned by MITRE as part of the program,

00:32and we were referred to MITRE. In terms of evidence of where these children have gone,

00:38and when you're dealing with courts of law, is this data something that even if it's sitting

00:45somewhere on someone else's server like MITRE, is it overseen or controlled by the US government

00:51in terms of making sure that it's not being tampered with? And is there a concern that

00:56with that particular initiative, the grant to that initiative terminated,

01:01is there a concern that there's a delay in the work that these researchers were doing in terms

01:07of like more of a search and rescue of these particular 30,000 children now being hindered?

01:12Well, as you noted, and I will confirm again, is that the data exists.

01:17What I will say to your question is that we know it is secure, and that is all I'll discuss about

01:24the nature of where it sits and where it is it's secure. I will also mention something I'd mentioned

01:31to you actually earlier, which is that this data and this kind of a program, the grant has been

01:40stopped, of course, but it doesn't mean just because something has changed, as this has,

01:47that it disappears or stops or becomes something that we can't use. So I would just remind you

01:54that there's a variety of dynamics that are occurring when it comes to the world knowing

01:59about those missing children, the nature of, I know the President and President Trump's concern

02:05about those missing children, the world is concerned, and the fact, to say the least,

02:09Ukraine has been advocating for this. They've been passionate about saving their nation

02:15and certainly getting those children back from Russia. And I think that this is, when we think

02:23about now the nature of the negotiations or certainly the conversations, that is part of

02:28those conversations, and it's something that we all hope will be resolved sooner than later.

02:34Yes, sir.

State Dept. Asked About Canceling Funds For Tracking Abduction Of Ukrainian Children By Russia

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