An international body has been established in The Hague to decide on tens of billions of euros in reparations to Ukraine for damage from Russia’s military aggression.
The creation of the International Claims Commission for Ukraine was approved at a conference in The Hague on Tuesday, December 16.
Dozens of senior European officials took part, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas.
Zelensky said creating a reparations mechanism is the first step on “a true path to peace.” “It is not enough to force Russia to strike a deal. It is not enough to make it stop killing. We must make Russia acknowledge that there are rules in this world,” he said.
The new body, which will assess and rule on compensation claims of any amount, is the second pillar of a system to compensate damage inflicted on Ukraine. It follows the creation of the Register of Damage for Ukraine, which has already received more than 80,000 applications from individuals and organizations. The third step will be the establishment of a compensation fund.
The new international commission is being created under the Council of Europe and will be based in The Hague, Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel said. “Without accountability, a conflict cannot be fully resolved. And part of that accountability is the payment of due compensation,” van Weel told reporters. “That’s why I believe we are taking a big step forward today by creating the claims commission and signing the relevant treaty.”
Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset, speaking in The Hague, urged that accountability, compensation and Ukraine’s reconstruction be included in peace negotiations.
In a statement on the Council of Europe’s website, Berset stressed that the organization and its partners have supported Ukraine from the first day of Russia’s full-scale aggression. “Working together, we must be ready to support Ukraine in achieving a just and lasting peace. The Register of Damage for Ukraine and the International Claims Commission will be the only independent international mechanisms dealing with compensation related to Russia’s war,” he said.
Register of Damage for Ukraine has been operating since April 2024
The Register of Damage for Ukraine (RD4U) was created under the Council of Europe on May 17, 2023, and began operating in April 2024. Forty-four states and the European Union have joined.
The register collects and records compensation claims filed by individuals, organizations and Ukrainian state bodies. It accepts claims across more than 40 categories of harm, including bodily injury, torture and sexual violence, forced deportation and loss of property.
The World Bank estimates the cost of rebuilding Ukraine over the next decade at $524 billion (447 billion euros), nearly three times the size of Ukraine’s economy in 2024.
