US State Department fires Russia and Ukraine analysts in latest layoffs
The U.S. State Department has dismissed several senior intelligence analysts focusing on Russia and Ukraine as part of a recent mass layoff.
The cuts come as President Donald Trump pushes to reduce the federal workforce and reorganize agencies amid his shifting strategy on Ukraine, now in the fourth year of Russia’s full-scale invasion, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
On July 13, roughly 1,350 State Department employees were laid off, including staff from the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), which provides critical intelligence assessments for U.S. diplomacy. While the exact number of Russia-Ukraine specialists affected remains unclear, the bureau reportedly retains some personnel with regional expertise.
Former State Department official Ellen McCarthy blasted the decision as “shortsighted” and warned it undermines the U.S.’s “critical capability at exactly the wrong time.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, however, defended the layoffs, calling them “a very deliberate step to reorganize the State Department to be more efficient and focused.”
The layoffs were reportedly linked to the merger of two INR offices.
The Trump administration’s budget and staffing cuts have already weakened U.S. support for Ukraine, leading to:
- Termination of a Yale-based initiative tracking Russian abductions of Ukrainian children
- Shutdown of USAID, which provided billions in foreign aid
- Elimination of programs investigating Russian war crimes
Trump has also been reluctant to approve additional U.S. military aid for Kyiv, pressing instead for a negotiated settlement with Moscow and urging European allies to take the lead in financing Ukraine’s defense. Recently, however, the White House signaled a shift, agreeing to supply U.S. weapons to Ukraine through NATO if funded by Europe.
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