The leaders of several countries, including Zelenski and Maia Sandu, signed in The Hague the treaty establishing the international body for war reparations owed to Ukraine
The leaders of several countries, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Moldovan President Maia Sandu, attended the signing of a document in The Hague on Tuesday to launch the International Claims Commission, a body that would compensate Kiev for hundreds of billions of dollars in damages caused by Russian attacks and alleged war crimes, News.ro reports citing Reuters.
More than 50 states and the EU have drawn up a Council of Europe convention for the establishment of the commission, which will enter into force after being ratified by 25 signatories, provided that sufficient funds are secured to finance its activity.
More than 35 countries have already expressed their support for the commission.
The Republic of Moldova is among the signatories of the founding document.
“At the diplomatic conference in The Hague, we signed the Convention on the establishment of the International Complaints Commission for Ukraine. This mechanism will contribute to documenting abuses and ensuring compensation for the losses suffered by Ukraine. As the President of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, I reaffirmed the firm support of the Republic of Moldova for Ukraine and our commitment to support international mechanisms designed to ensure justice and respect for international law,” the Republic's foreign minister wrote on Facebook Moldova, Mihai Popsoi.
I met with the President of Moldova @sandumaiamd in The Hague. I am grateful for Moldova's support and its readiness to cooperate. We discussed possible areas for partnership and agreed on further contacts. I also informed the President about our efforts towards peace, security,… pic.twitter.com/LUIxwTo1Jl
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Volodymyr Zelenskyy (@ZelenskyyUa) December 16, 2025
“Without taking responsibility, a conflict cannot be fully resolved”
The Commission – the second part of an international compensation mechanism for Ukraine – will examine, assess and decide on claims submitted to the Register of Damages for Ukraine, created by the Council of Europe in 2023, and determine the compensation awarded on a case-by-case basis.
Claims may be made for damages, losses or injuries caused by acts of Russia committed in or against Ukraine on or after the invasion date of February 24, 2022. The requests, which cover violations of international law, can be submitted by affected individuals, companies or the Ukrainian state, according to a draft of the proposal.
Dozens of figures from Europe and beyond, including the head of the European Union's foreign policy, Kaja Kallas, attended a one-day conference jointly organized by the Netherlands and the Council of Europe, the largest human rights group on the continent, which brings together 46 countries.
The meeting coincided with the diplomatic approach initiated by the US to end the war in Ukraine.
The Dutch foreign minister, David van Weel, emphasized the importance of reparations for the Ukrainian victims. “Without taking responsibility, a conflict cannot be fully resolved. And part of taking responsibility is paying for the damages,” he told reporters. “Therefore, I consider it an important step today that we are establishing a compensation commission and that we are signing a treaty in this sense,” he declared.
Russian assets, reason for discord
Details of how the compensation awarded by the commission, which will be based in the Netherlands, will be paid have yet to be determined. But initial discussions addressed the use of frozen Russian assets in the EU, supplemented by contributions from member states.
“The goal is to validate the compensation claims that will ultimately be paid by Russia. They will have to be paid by Russia, the commission makes no guarantee of compensation,” Van Weel said.
The damage register, created two years ago, which will become part of the compensation commission, has received more than 80,000 claims for compensation submitted by individuals, organizations and public bodies in Ukraine, in a wide range of categories.
“This is exactly where the true path to peace begins,” President Zelenskiy said. “It is not enough to force Russia to conclude an agreement. It is not enough to make it stop killing. We have to get Russia to accept that there are rules in the world,” Zelenskiy pleaded.
The Kremlin denies allegations of war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine. It also described the EU's proposal to use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine's defense and budget needs as illegal and threatened retaliation.
Possible amnesty included in the peace agreement
Plans to compensate victims of abuses in Ukraine, from sexual violence and child deportation to the destruction of religious sites, could be complicated by the inclusion of an amnesty for wartime atrocities in a peace deal previously proposed by US President Donald Trump's administration.
The World Bank has estimated the cost of reconstruction over the next decade at $524 billion (€447 billion), or nearly three times Ukraine's economic output in 2024.
But that figure only covers the period up to December 2024 and does not include damage caused this year, as Russian drone and missile attacks intensified in a campaign targeting utilities, transport and civilian infrastructure.
The Council of Europe was founded in 1949, four years after the end of the Second World War, to promote democracy, human rights and the rule of law throughout the continent and is its oldest intergovernmental organization. Russia withdrew from the Council of Europe after launching the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
