Reuters: US funding freeze threatens probes into Russia’s war crimes
The Trump administration’s foreign funding freeze has stalled $89 million in US-backed Ukrainian projects, affecting war crimes probes, anti-corruption efforts, and prosecution reforms.
The US Trump administration’s freeze on foreign funding has begun affecting international efforts to document Russian war crimes in Ukraine, halting $89 million in US-backed projects and forcing dozens of experts to stop work. According to Reuters, citing eight sources and a Ukrainian document, six projects at Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office have been impacted, with funding for at least five already frozen.
Reuters reports that nearly 40 experts provided through Georgetown’s International Criminal Justice Initiative have stopped working, sources told Reuters. One source involved in supplying legal experts said:
“Some partners have no more money to pay their staff.”
A project supporting victims of conflict-related sexual violence has been suspended.
The Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union has halted its regional office operations after losing approximately 75% of its annual budget, according to Oleksandr Pavlichenko. Another unnamed Ukrainian organization assisting with war crimes evidence collection has partially ceased operations and may face job cuts within three months, as per Reuters.
UN monitors report “alarming rise” in Russian executions of Ukrainian POWs
According to Leonid Sapelnikov, deputy head of Ukraine’s State Judicial Administration, the freeze has affected the planned launch of an American-funded case management system meant to modernize Ukraine’s judiciary. The modernization is crucial for Ukraine’s European Union membership bid.
Yevhen Krapyvin of the Centre for Policy and Legal Reform in Kyiv told Reuters that while US support was vital earlier in the war, Ukrainian authorities have gained valuable experience through the established infrastructure. However, one source warned that losing US leadership could embolden perpetrators.
Related:
- Trump’s foreign aid freeze disrupts Ukraine’s investigation of 140,000 Russian war crimes
- Reuters: Ukraine offers mineral partnership to US, not just “giving away” deposits
- USAID shutdown creates opportunity for Russian money to enter Ukrainian media space, threatening freedom of speech
- Kellogg: Trump ready to double down on Russian sanctions
- UN monitors report “alarming rise” in Russian executions of Ukrainian POWs
- Ukraine’s police shows faces of Russian soldiers who murdered civilians in Bucha
- “You torture Russians, too” UN says, as skeletal Ukrainian prisoners of war return from captivity
- UN reports 574 Ukrainian civilians killed in fall 2024 by Russian attacks
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