Zelensky Holds Meeting on Compensation for Damage Caused by Russia’s Invasion

President Volodymyr Zelensky held a meeting devoted to compensating Ukraine for the damage caused by the armed aggression of the Russian Federation. The following is a statement from the President’s official website:

President Zelensky said that the issue of compensation for damages caused by the Russian invasion is an important element of the responsibility that the aggressor state must bear.

To develop and implement the compensation mechanism, the President created an ad hoc working group chaired by Head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak, consisted of representatives of the Cabinet of Ministers and leading Ukrainian and foreign specialists on international law.

The meeting participants discussed the progress of the negotiation process regarding the forced withdrawal of assets of the Russian Federation in favor of our state and coordinated steps in this direction.

In particular, work on the creation of an ad hoc compensation commission through the conclusion of a multilateral international agreement with Ukrainian partners continues. This commission will be able to consider applications seeking for compensation for damage caused by the war. An important step to ensure the international legal basis for this mechanism was the adoption of a resolution by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on June 22, 2022, which states that the Council of Europe will promote and ensure the implementation of a comprehensive system of accountability for aggression against Ukraine by implementing an institutional compensatory mechanism for our state . Similar work is being done in the OSCE, the European Parliament, the UN and other organizations.

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In addition, Ukraine is negotiating with partners on how Russian assets, which are currently frozen in various jurisdictions, can be recovered and used for reparations for the damage caused by the war.

At the meeting, it was noted that today our partners do not doubt that this should be done, and the only question is to find a legal avenue.