Ukraine and 34 other countries have formally approved plans to establish an international compensation body to address damage caused by Russia’s invasion, though uncertainty remains over how reparations would ultimately be funded.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the decision Tuesday in The Hague, saying he hopes the mechanism will gain broad international backing to ensure that “any damage caused by the war can be compensated.”
The initiative, facilitated by the Council of Europe, will create an International Claims Commission allowing Ukrainians to seek compensation for damage, loss or injury resulting from Russia’s full-scale invasion, which began in February 2022. The Council of Europe has maintained that Russia should be responsible for paying compensation, but there is no clear legal mechanism to compel Moscow to do so. One proposal under discussion involves using tens of billions of dollars in frozen Russian assets held in Europe.
“The aggressor must pay,” Zelenskyy told the Dutch parliament earlier in the day.
The approval comes as Zelenskyy continues diplomatic efforts on multiple fronts. On Monday, he attended talks in Berlin involving U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Zelenskyy said Ukraine is prepared to drop its bid to join NATO in exchange for firm Western security guarantees, but reiterated his rejection of proposals that would require Kyiv to cede territory to Russia.
“These security guarantees are an opportunity to prevent another wave of Russian aggression,” he said, calling the offer “already a compromise on our part.”
While 35 countries have backed the creation of the claims commission, each must now ratify the treaty, a process that typically requires legislative approval. The level of initial support is described as unprecedented for a new Council of Europe treaty.
The commission will assess claims submitted to an existing register of damages launched at a Council of Europe summit in 2023. That register, based in The Hague, has already received around 80,000 claims.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the EU will contribute one million euros toward the commission’s operations, with total estimated costs of about 3.5 million euros.
Several of the same countries have also endorsed plans for a separate international court, under the Council of Europe framework, aimed at prosecuting senior Russian officials for the invasion of Ukraine.
