Save Ukraine - which organises rescue missions for children stolen by Russia - has lost $3m in funding from the shutdown of USAID
Elon Musk’s government department has cut millions of dollars in funding to an organisation working to bring back stolen Ukrainian children from Russia, The i Paper can reveal.
Save Ukraine – a frontline organisation which sets up rescue missions to return children taken by Russia and provides recovery support – lost more than $3m in funding from the shutdown of USAID earlier this year. To date, Save Ukraine has rescued 612 deported children.
It comes after Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency, which has been tasked with reducing expenditure in the US Government, cut the investigations team locating the stolen children.
The closure, first revealed by The i Paper,sparked outrage around the world, before being reversed by the State Department on Friday.
In January, Musk suspended aid programmes pending an investigation into the department managing them, USAID, pausing money to life-saving programmes and initiating mass layoffs of civil servants.
According to the Congressional Research Service, USAID’s budget was $44bn in 2024.
The Trump administration is now moving to permanently shut the department, notifying its remaining employees that their jobs could soon be lost.
FILE PHOTO: Tesla CEO Elon Musk wears a 'Trump Was Right About Everything!' hat while attending a cabinet meeting at the White House, in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 24, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
Tesla CEO and US government official Elon Musk wears a ‘Trump Was Right About Everything!’ hat while attending a cabinet meeting at the White House, in DC (Photo: Reuters/Carlos Barria/File Photo)
Mykola Kuleba – former Children’s Commissioner of Ukraine, head of Kyiv’s Children’s Services and founder of Save Ukraine – said the charity had to reduce its capacity because of the cuts.
“The US provided great support for many years for our rescues. This year, we planned to have to use USAID support for mental health support of rescued kids from occupied territories in Russia, for humanitarian support, and especially support for children with disabilities,” he told The i Paper.
“This cut has decreased our capacity. But on the other hand… we believe that we will have more support from European allies and from the UK. The US is our strong partner and we believe that soon, President Trump’s administration will make the right decision to increase support for humanitarian issues.”
Ukraine’s stolen children
The number of children stolen by Russia is unknown, but there have been more than 19,500 reports of “unlawful deportation and forced transfer of children” and around 1,240 children so far been repatriated, according to Bring Kids Back UA, an initiative launched by President Volodymyr Zelensky to rescue the children.
Kuleba said Russia was attempting to “indoctrinate children and use them for the future wars”.
“The intention of Putin totally destroy us and annihilate Ukrainian identity,” he said. “[Putin] needs girls to birth children and boys to be soldiers for his empire.”
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the the UK will “do everything” it can to help end the “grotesque” abduction of Ukrainian children.
The Kremlin denies wrongdoing, claiming the adoptions by Russians are to help “abandoned” children.
Save Ukraine provides a range of services for children stolen by Russia, including residential care and six months rehabilitation, and non-residential support for education, empowerment, trauma therapy and “strengthening families” and also finding new families for orphans.
Many children they support have disabilities, and some have experienced sexual abuse, Mr Kuleba said.
KYIV, UKRAINE - OCTOBER 16: Ukrainian kids play on a crater, occurred after the Russian missile strikes, at the Taras Shevchenko Park in Kyiv, Ukraine on October 16, 2022. (Photo by Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Ukrainian children play in a crater, caused by Russian missile strikes, at the Taras Shevchenko Park in Kyiv, in 2022 (Photo: Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
“It’s huge work we are doing on the ground. It’s very important for healing trauma and reintegrating these kids to Ukrainian society.”
“Many boys have been taken into the Russian army. I can give you tons of stories of children who have suffered in occupied territories, how their parents have been killed or arrested. That’s why support we receive goes to provide rescues, rehabilitation and reintegration for those children.
“Through this USAID cut we lost a lot, especially this year for recovery programmes. But we believe that many Americans will keep the same position that Ukrainian childre are innocent kids who need support. They cannot be the spoils of war. They have to be just children. They have to dream. They have to build their life.”
Ukraine civil society lost more than $80m from USAID
The Alliance of Ukrainian Civil Society Organisations, a union of 16 non-profits working to support Ukrainians whose lives have been devastated by the conflict, told The i Paper its members had collectively lost $84m (£64m) from the USAID cuts.
Half of the Alliance’s members reported a significant impact on their work from the cut, with $30m (£23m) of the losses coming from halted projects and a further $54m (£51m) from unlaunched projects.
The Alliance warned that the cuts had left frontline organisations facing “immediate operational collapse, leaving vulnerable communities without essential aid and services.”
Russian drones have been deadly when hitting civilian sites like this apartment block in Kyiv (Photo: Roman Petushkov / Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Russian drones have been deadly when hitting civilian sites like this apartment block in Kyiv (Photo: Roman Petushkov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
The cut impacted programmes including evacuation from frontline war zones, the reconstruction of damaged houses, emergency shelter, mental health support and cash assistance.
Mila Leonova, founder of the Alliance, said it had been “very dependent” on this funding and were now relying more on other partners and direct donations from Ukrainians.
“I gave a lecture in the UK and afterwards an American student came over to me,” she added. “She cried and told me, Mila, I’m so sorry. You need to know that we are on your side.”
Peace deal ‘must include return of stolen children’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the issue of children stolen by Russia would be central to the peace negotiations which are ongoing between the US and Russia.
In a call with Zelensky earlier this month, their first since their clash in the White House, Donald Trump promised to address the issue in conversations with Vladimir Putin.
Secretatry of State Marco Rubio earlier had said the Ukrainians “need to get the children” back as part of any peace settlement.
Kuleba said these children must be “central” to an agreement and that their return to Ukraine should be “unconditional”.
“We cannot have children as a bargaining chip to exchange for fewer sanctions,” he said.
But he said he was concerned the deal, which reportedly includes Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and mineral supplies, would be too soft on Putin and encourage him to strike again.
“If he takes Ukraine, he will move forward to take back to his empire, other post Soviet countries. It is a test for Europe. It is a test for the whole civilized world, if we are ready to stand against totalitarian regimes. If we will show other regimes that it’s not appropriate to come to any country, to invade, to steal children and to indoctrinate them,” he said.
“If you as western countries with these strong values, will not show him, will not stop him, other regimes will stand with him and join and you will have a serious problem. It’s better to stop him in Ukraine.”
The White House was approached for comment.