Ukraine War Damage Register operational from end of April
Ten million complaints could land in the Register of Damages for Ukraine, announced Wednesday, Markiyan Kliuchkovskyi, a Ukrainian lawyer who is the head of this new international institution backed by the Council of Europe.
From the end of April, Ukrainians will be able to start registering their complaints, exclusively digitally, using the public service application Diïa. This application is subject to cyberattacks “almost daily”, but Mr. Kliuchkovskyi stressed that it would only be a ” front door “ to register claims, which will be stored abroad.
The creation of the Register was decided at a summit of the 46 member countries of the Council of Europe in Reykjavik in May to keep track of the damage inflicted by Russia on Ukraine since the February 24 invasion 2022 and calculate the amount. Objective: to ultimately obtain reparations.
Based in The Hague, the organization will employ 45 people, including ten in kyiv, “committed to raising awareness about the process”. The Ukrainian lawyer recalled that the Register was only a first step in the compensation mechanism, recognizing that the means of financing them were the subject of international negotiations.
The Register adds to several measures aimed at helping Ukraine obtain redress. In March, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin for his responsibility in the deportation of Ukrainian children.
The project to create a special court for war crimes in Ukraine, probably also located in The Hague, was the subject of discussions at the Reykjavik summit.