Europe launches international commission for Ukraine war damages

Summary

• Europe launched the International Claims Commission in The Hague to ensure Ukraine is compensated for damage from Russian attacks.
• The commission will assess claims for damage, loss, or injury caused by Russia since the February 2022 invasion, with over 86,000 claims already registered.
• Compensation, potentially from frozen Russian assets, faces complications including Russia's threats of retaliation and possible wartime amnesty deals.

THE HAGUE - Europe launched an International Claims Commission for Ukraine on Dec 16 in an effort to ensure Kyiv is compensated for hundreds of billions of dollars in damage from Russian attacks and alleged war crimes.

The gathering in The Hague of dozens of leaders including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky coincided with a US-orchestrated diplomatic push to end the war in Ukraine
that was triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

“Every Russian war crime must have consequences for those who committed them,” Mr Zelensky said, before 34 European leaders signed a convention to formally launch the commission at the Dec 16 gathering in The Hague.

“That’s exactly where the real path to peace begins,” he added. “It’s not enough to force Russia into a deal. It’s not enough to make it stop killing. We must make Russia accept that there are rules in the world.”

Reparation for victims

The establishment of the claims commission does not mean Ukrainians can expect swift reparations for damages.

Details on how any damages awarded by the commission, to be based in the Netherlands, would be paid still need to be worked out. Early discussions have touched on using Russian assets frozen by the EU, supplemented by member contributions.

“The goal is to have validated claims that will ultimately be paid by Russia. It will really have to be paid by Russia; this commission offers no guarantee for the damages,” Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel said.

The two-year-old Register of Damage, which will become part of the claims commission, has already received over 86,000 claims submitted by individuals, organisations and public bodies in Ukraine under a wide range of categories.

Russian officials were not immediately reachable to comment on the commission. The Kremlin denies accusations of war crimes by Russian forces in Ukraine. It has also described the EU’s proposal to use immobilised Russian assets to finance Ukraine’s defence and budget needs as illegal and threatened retaliation.

Amnesty proposal

Plans to compensate victims of abuses in Ukraine, ranging from sexual violence and child deportations to the destruction of religious sites, could be complicated by the inclusion of an amnesty for wartime atrocities in any peace deal, earlier proposed by US President Donald Trump’s administration.

More than 50 states and the EU drafted the Council of Europe convention to establish the commission, which was to take force after ratification by at least 25 signatories, as long as sufficient funds had been secured to finance its operation.

The commission - the second part of an international compensation mechanism for Ukraine - will review, assess and decide on claims submitted to the Register of Damage for Ukraine, which was created by the Council of Europe in 2023, and determine compensation awards on a case-by-case basis.

Claims can be filed for damage, loss or injury caused by Russian acts committed in or against Ukraine upon or after the Feb 24, 2022, invasion. The claims, which cover violations of international law, can be brought by affected individuals, companies or the Ukrainian state, a draft of the proposal said.

$675b for reconstruction

The World Bank has estimated the cost of reconstruction in the coming decade at US$524 billion (S$675 billion), or nearly three times Ukraine’s economic output in 2024.

But that figure is through December 2024 only and does not include damage caused this year, when Russian drone and missile strikes escalated in a campaign targeting utilities, transport and civilian infrastructure.

The Council of Europe was founded in 1949, four years after the end of World War II, to promote democracy, human rights and the rule of law across the continent. REUTERS