The White House recommended terminating US funding for nearly two dozen programs that conduct war crimes and accountability work globally, including the crimes committed by Russia against Ukraine, according to Reuters.

The recommendation from the White House Office of Management and Budget does not constitute a final decision to eliminate the programs, as the State Department retains the option to file an appeal by 11 July. However, two American officials who spoke with Reuters expressed skepticism that Secretary of State Marco Rubio would advocate for continued funding for most programs.

One source indicated that Rubio could potentially make arguments in favor of preserving funding specifically for war crimes investigations in Ukraine.

According to three sources, the White House recommended cutting funding for Global Rights Compliance, a program that assists in collecting evidence of sexual violence and torture during the Russo-Ukrainian war. Another program facing recommended termination is Legal Action Worldwide, a legal aid group that handles cases against Russian military personnel.

A $18 million State Department grant for Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office, implemented by Georgetown University’s International Criminal Justice Initiative, is also recommended for termination.

Other programs facing termination include accountability work on Myanmar’s army atrocities against Rohingya minorities and persecution of Christians and other minorities by Syria’s ousted former president Bashar al-Assad.

Ukraine has opened more than 140,000 war crime cases since Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion. Russia consistently denies war crimes have been committed by its forces in the war. While the programs do not directly impact Ukraine’s frontline defense efforts, supporters argue they represent the best opportunity to document reported battlefield atrocities in Europe’s largest conflict since World War Two.

Program that tracks deported Ukrainian children also lost funding, faces closure

Another US Yale-led research program, The Ukraine Conflict Observatory, that tracks the deportation of over 30,000 Ukrainian children by Russia, is facing imminent shutdown after the Trump administration cut its funding, leaving it with only about two weeks of resources as of June 2025.

The program, launched in May 2022 with State Department support, has been instrumental in documenting war crimes, aiding six ICC indictments including those related to child abductions, and compiling a unique database on forced deportations, reeducation camps, and identity erasure of Ukrainian children.

Despite temporary funding reinstatements and congressional efforts to restore support, the observatory plans to lay off staff by 1 July, creating a significant intelligence gap since no other entity tracks these abductions at comparable scale or detail.