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State Department: data on missing Ukrainian children exists despite termination of a research grant
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Summary
After reporters asked whether federal funding cuts had caused research data on abducted Ukrainian children to be deleted, the State Department said the data exist and are not missing, while reiterating a review of foreign‑aid programs that led to some cuts.
The State Department told reporters that data collected by a university research effort into Ukrainian children reported missing during the war were not deleted after the department terminated funding for that research.
Tammy, State Department spokesperson, said the department’s review of foreign‑aid programs led to cuts for projects assessed as not aligned with the administration’s priorities, but she denied reports that data were deleted, saying “The data exists. It was not in the State Department's control. It was the people running that framework, but we know, who is running the data and the website, and we know fully that the data exists and it's not been deleted and it's not missing.”
Why it matters: Reporters asked about a terminated grant that had been collecting evidence on alleged abductions of Ukrainian children; the department’s assurance that the data remain available addresses concerns about loss of evidence, while the stated review of foreign aid signals the administration is changing how it funds external research projects.
Details from the briefing: Tammy said the grant in question had been cut as part of a broader assessment of U.S. foreign‑aid spending, described by the department as an effort to remove waste and abuse and reorient funding toward programs the administration considers priorities. She did not provide the university name in her answer at that point in the briefing, but earlier questions referred to a research initiative at Yale University.
What was not specified: The transcript does not include details on who holds the data repository, how to access the data, or whether alternative support will be provided to continue the research.
Ending: The department said it remains committed to working on the issue through other channels, including presidential attention to the matter, and indicated it may pursue different structures for future investigations.
