Europe Launches International Claims Commission for Ukraine War Damages.
European leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, will meet in The Hague on Tuesday to launch an International Claims Commission aimed at compensating Ukraine for hundreds of billions of dollars in damage caused by Russia’s invasion and alleged war crimes.
The one-day conference is co-hosted by the Netherlands and the Council of Europe, the continent’s leading human rights body, and will be attended by dozens of senior officials, including EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. The meeting comes amid ongoing US-backed diplomatic efforts to end the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russian officials were not immediately available for comment. Moscow has consistently denied allegations that its forces committed war crimes during the conflict.
The commission will build on the Register of Damage for Ukraine, established by the Council of Europe in 2023, which has already received more than 80,000 claims from individuals, organisations and public bodies across Ukraine. The register will formally become part of the new compensation mechanism.
More than 50 countries and the European Union have drafted a Council of Europe convention to establish the commission. It will enter into force once 25 signatories ratify the agreement and sufficient funding is secured. A source familiar with the discussions said up to 35 countries are expected to sign the convention at Tuesday’s meeting. The commission is likely to be headquartered in The Hague.
The body will assess claims for damage, loss or injury resulting from Russian actions committed in or against Ukraine on or after February 24, 2022. Claims can be filed by individuals, businesses or the Ukrainian state and will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, with compensation awards determined accordingly.
European officials have acknowledged that discussions around a potential amnesty for wartime atrocities in any future peace deal—previously floated by the administration of US President Donald Trump—could complicate efforts to compensate victims of abuses such as sexual violence, child deportations and the destruction of religious sites.
The World Bank has estimated Ukraine’s reconstruction costs over the next decade at $524 billion (€447 billion)—nearly three times the country’s economic output in 2024. That figure reflects damage only through December 2024 and does not include destruction caused this year, when Russian attacks intensified against energy, transport and civilian infrastructure.
How compensation awards would be financed remains unresolved, though officials say Russian assets frozen by the European Union are among the options under discussion.
Founded in 1949, the Council of Europe promotes democracy, human rights and the rule of law and is Europe’s oldest intergovernmental organisation.
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