Ukraine's war damage register will be operational from the end of April
Ten million complaints could end up in Ukraine's compensation register, announced on Wednesday Markiyan Kliuchkovskyi, a Ukrainian lawyer and head of this new international body backed by the Council of Europe.
From the end of April, Ukrainians will be able to submit their complaints exclusively digitally through the public service application Diïa. This application is the subject of cyberattacks “almost daily,” but Mr. Kliuchkovskyi stressed that it is simply a “gateway” for registering complaints 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 record and calculate the amount of damage Russia has inflicted on Ukraine since the invasion on February 24, 2022. The goal: to ultimately receive compensation.
The organization, founded in The Hague, will employ 45 people, including ten in Kyiv, “to raise awareness of the process.” The Ukrainian lawyer recalled that the register is only a first step in the compensation mechanism and acknowledged that the means of financing it are subject to international negotiations.
The registry complements several measures designed to help Ukraine obtain redress. In March, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over his responsibility in deporting Ukrainian children.
The project to create a special war crimes court in Ukraine, probably also based in The Hague, was the subject of discussions at the Reykjavik summit.