Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has announced that Ukrainians can now file claims for damages suffered in Russia's invasion at a newly established register based in The Hague.
Kuleba made the comment on April 2 in the Dutch city as Western officials gathered there to discuss efforts to prosecute alleged war crimes committed by Russia during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The international conference, Restoring Justice For Ukraine, is being organized by the Netherlands, Ukraine, and the European Commission, the top executive body of the EU.
Speaking at the start of the conference, Kuleba said the register will initially focus on damage to real estate. He added, however, that it should be expanded to also include other kinds of damage, including material damages.
“The people of Ukraine, they want to see justice delivered,” Kuleba said.
As she opened the conference, Kuleba's Dutch counterpart, Hanke Bruins Slot, agreed, saying that the war has left tens of thousands dead while also injuring and displacing displaced millions.
“And it’s resulted in a long and well-documented list of international crimes. Over 100,000 and counting,” she said. “That number not only underscores the gravity of this aggression, but also the need to support Ukraine. Because if we don’t, the country’s justice system will eventually collapse under the weight of these atrocities.”
Foreign and justice ministers, along with officials from the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the EU judicial authority Eurojust are expected to discuss the fight against impunity as well as compensation for victims.
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The Russian military has been accused of war crimes in previous conflicts, including wars in its breakaway republic of Chechnya and in supporting the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
The Kremlin denies any role or responsibility for all the alleged crimes.
UN-backed human rights experts said on March 15 that they have gathered new evidence of the “horrific” torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war by their Russian jailers, saying such practices could amount to war crimes.
The Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said human rights violations have been widespread since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade the country more than two years ago, and that civilian suffering from the war continues to mount.
“New evidence strengthens the commission’s previous findings that torture used by Russian authorities in Ukraine and in the Russian Federation has been widespread and systematic,” the commission said in its latest report, citing “horrific treatment” of POWs at several sites in Russia.
In July 2023, the Associated Press reported that thousands of Ukrainian civilians were being held in Russian prisons and subjected to systematic torture and slave labor.
The AP report also cited a Russian government document from January 2023 outlining Moscow’s plans to create dozens of new prison colonies and detention centers in occupied Ukraine through 2026.
The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Putin, accusing the Russian leader of being responsible for the illegal deportation of children from Ukraine, which constitutes a war crime. Another Russian official, Maria Lvova-Belova, was also included in that warrant in March 2023.