THE HAGUE, Dec 16 (Reuters) – European leaders including Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy meet 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.
The one-day conference, co-hosted by the Netherlands and the 46-nation Council of Europe, the continent’s top rights group, was to be attended by dozens of senior figures including European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.
The meeting coincides with ongoing U.S.-backed peace diplomacy aimed at stopping the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russian officials were not immediately reachable to comment on the plan, but have repeatedly rejected allegations that Russian forces committed war crimes during the conflict.
POSSIBLE AMNESTY IN PEACE DEAL
The possible inclusion of an amnesty for wartime atrocities in a peace deal, which was at one point proposed by the administration of President Donald Trump, could complicate Europe’s plans to also compensate victims of abuses in Ukraine ranging from sexual violence and child deportations to destruction of religious sites.
The two-year-old Register of Damage, which will become part of the commission, has received more than 80,000 claims submitted by individuals, organisations and public bodies in Ukraine under a wide range of categories.
More than 50 states and the European Union have drafted a Council of Europe convention to create the commission, which will take force after it has been ratified by 25 signatories, as long as sufficient funds have been secured to finance the work.
Dozens of countries have already indicated support for the commission, likely to be based in The Hague. As many as 35 nations have indicated they will sign the convention at Tuesday’s meeting, a source familiar with the discussions said.
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 on or after the February 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.
$524 BILLION FOR POST-WAR RECONSTRUCTION
The World Bank has estimated the cost of reconstruction in the coming decade at $524 billion (447 billion euros), 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 attacks escalated as part of a campaign targeting utilities, transport and civilian infrastructure.
Details on how any damages awarded by the commission would be paid still need to be worked out, but the source said Russian assets frozen by the EU were among the options being discussed.
The Council of Europe was founded in 1949 to promote democracy, human rights and the rule of law across the continent and is its oldest intergovernmental organisation.
(1 euro = $1.1723)
(Reporting by Anthony Deutsch; editing by Mark Heinrich)
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