WASHINGTON (AN) — A team of researchers at Yale University has used social media posts, satellite imagery and adoption databases to track thousands of Ukrainian children kidnapped by Russia in its war against Ukraine. Its loss of U.S. funding brings to a halt one of the most advanced modern efforts at recovering unlawfully deported children.
Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in Feb. 2022, Russian forces have abducted more than 19,000 Ukrainian children from occupied territories, according to the Ukrainian nonprofit Bring Kids Back UA, an initiative of Ukraine’s president. Despite widespread documentation and bipartisan concern over the kidnappings, U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is rapidly eliminating federally supported programs designed to locate and return these children.
