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War Crimes Experts Halt Trips to Ukraine Due to Trump Administration Funding Shortage
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Organizations investigating Russian war crimes in Ukraine are facing challenges collecting evidence and supporting prosecutions after US funding cuts reduced support for these programs, limiting their ability to travel to Ukraine and conduct fieldwork.
According to Reuters on May 31, nearly all of more than 40 organizations involved in documenting alleged Russian war crimes and assisting legal proceedings have been affected by funding shortages.
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The agency interviewed law enforcement officials, legal experts, human rights advocates, and researchers working on accountability efforts related to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
According to sources cited by Reuters, dozens of international specialists who previously traveled to Ukraine to gather and analyze battlefield evidence have suspended their work following cuts to US financial support.
Beth Van Schaack, who served as the US ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice during former President Joe Biden’s administration, warned that the reduction in assistance could undermine efforts to deliver justice for victims of the war.
The US State Department said Washington is shifting a greater share of the financial burden of supporting Ukraine to Europe and other “willing partners.” However, it maintained that the United States continues to provide substantial assistance, including support for programs related to “war crimes, justice and accountability for atrocities..”
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukrainian prosecutors have opened more than 230,000 criminal cases related to alleged war crimes committed by Russian forces, according Reuters, citing Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General.
The development comes, as the United Nations has included Russian armed forces and security services on its blacklist of parties suspected of committing war-related sexual violence.
According to Associated Press, Russian authorities have consistently denied United Nations human rights investigators access to relevant sites and detainees. Despite these restrictions, UN investigators were able to verify 310 cases of sexual violence in Russia and Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine involving both civilians and prisoners of war. The report noted that the overwhelming majority of the victims were men.
According to Lubinets, a specific method of abuse referred to as the "barber" involves guards intentionally slicing away pieces of the scalp alongside hair while shaving detainees. If the victim cries out, they are subjected to immediate physical beatings and electric shocks.
The ombudsman also highlighted a disparity in tracking these facilities: while international partners have mapped out 29 detention sites used for Ukrainian prisoners—comprising 18 within the Russian Federation and 11 in temporarily occupied parts of Ukraine—domestic intelligence paints a much larger picture. Ukrainian agencies have verified 186 locations where civilian hostages and prisoners of war are being detained across Russia and occupied lands, with some of these facilities situated as far as Siberia.
Additionally, Ukraine’s Human Rights Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets stated that Ukrainian officials have documented 695 distinct torture methods used against Ukrainian captives. He said the abuses range from beatings and electric shocks to prolonged stress positions, starvation, and degrading detention conditions.
At the same time, satellite imagery indicates that Russian authorities have dismantled a mass burial site in the village of Manhush near the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol.
The site, where residents who died during the 2022 siege of Mariupol were buried, is reportedly being repurposed as a logistics area for road construction works. According to the Mariupol City Council, the territory where Russian forces secretly established mass graves between 2022 and 2026 has been cleared to accommodate construction machinery and infrastructure projects.
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