THE HAGUE – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and 34 other countries formally approved plans Tuesday to create a compensation body to pay for damages to Ukraine caused by the Russian invasion, but questions remain about where the money will come from.
Zelenskyy told leaders gathered in the Dutch city of The Hague that he hopes for strong international support so "any damage caused by the war can be compensated.”
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The Council of Europe, the continent’s preeminent human rights organization, has facilitated the International Claims Commission, which will allow Ukrainians to seek compensation for “damage, loss or injury” caused by Russia since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
The Council of Europe is adamant that Russia must foot the bill, but there is no clear pathway for forcing Moscow to pay. One proposal is to use some of the tens of billions of dollars in frozen Russian assets held in Europe.
“The aggressor must pay,” Zelenskyy told the Dutch parliament earlier Tuesday.
On Monday, he attended peace talks in Berlin with U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Zelenskyy voiced readiness to drop his country’s bid to join NATO in exchange for Western security guarantees, but rejected the U.S. push for ceding territory to Russia.
“These security guarantees are an opportunity to prevent another wave of Russian aggression,” he told journalists. “And this is already a compromise on our part.”
Thirty-five countries backed the International Claims Commission, but they now must ratify the treaty, a process which usually requires legislature approval. That level of support is unprecedented for the start of a Council of Europe treaty.
The commission will assess claims made to the already operational register of damages, which was launched during a Council of Europe summit in 2023. Some 80,000 claims have already been filed with the register, which is based in The Hague.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told a press conference the bloc would give one million euros ($1.1 million) to finance the commission's operation. An estimated 3.5 million euros ($4.1 million) are needed overall.
Many of the same countries have also backed a new international court, also under the umbrella of the Council of Europe, to prosecute senior Russian officials for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.