Trump ‘deletes evidence’ of Putin's adduction of 35,000 Ukrainian children

An international effort to trace and rescue tens of thousands of children kidnapped from Ukraine to Russia and prosecute those responsible has been crippled by the US state department’s deletion of evidence, according to The Independent.

The Trump administration cut funding to Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab, which was compiling a database of alleged Russian war crimes, including the abduction of an estimated 35,000 children from occupied areas of Ukraine, last month.

Using satellite imagery and other surveillance systems provided through the US government, the Yale researchers were monitoring 116 sites in Russia.

A Yale source said the US state department deleted the evidence which would have been used as part of rescue efforts to get the children home to Ukraine. It would also have been used to prosecute those behind their abductions – including Russian president Vladimir Putin.

”It is unclear whether it was by accident or intent, but it may reveal or it may cause potential criminal liability for the Trump administration, given international prohibitions against the destruction of war crimes evidence,” the Yale insider told The Independent.