Leaders, including Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, arrived in The Hague on Tuesday to launch an International Claims Commission to compensate Kyiv for hundreds of billions of dollars in damage from Russian attacks and alleged war crimes.
Dozens of senior figures from Europe and beyond, including European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, were attending a one-day conference co-hosted by the Netherlands and the 46-nation Council of Europe, the continent’s largest rights group.
The gathering 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.
Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel confirmed that the commission would be headquartered in the Netherlands and stressed the importance of reparations for Ukrainian victims.
“Without accountability, a conflict cannot be fully resolved. And part of that accountability is also paying damages that have been done. So I think it’s a big step today that we are now establishing a claims commission, that we’re signing a treaty on that,” Van Weel told reporters upon his arrival.
Details on how any damages awarded by the commission would be paid still need to be worked out, but early discussions included 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,” Van Weel said.
The two-year-old register of damage, which will become part of the claims commission, has received more than 80,000 claims submitted by individuals, organisations and public bodies in Ukraine under a wide range of categories, opens new tab.
Russian officials were not immediately reachable to comment on the commission.
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.
