Diplomatic conference for the Adoption of the Convention Establishing an International Claims Commission for Ukraine: Press remarks by High Representative Kaja Kallas

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Good day, everybody,

Secretary General Berset, dear Alain, it is a great pleasure to be here in The Hague today.

We are making very important decisions for holding Russia financially accountable for the war damages it has caused in Ukraine. The work the Council of Europe has done to set up the Claims Commission for Ukraine is vital and can make a difference. Everybody here today is on the same page. Russia will not escape the bill for the homes, schools, hospitals it has destroyed in Ukraine. Ukrainians have already filed more than 86,000 claims for compensation, each one of them is a life interrupted and a future put on hold.

After four years of war, more than 200,000 buildings in Ukraine have been destroyed or damaged, and some 2.5 million homes, houses and flats are no longer fit to live in, and this is only one category of the registry. The Claims Commission now has the task to determine what is owed for this destruction, not in abstract figures but in real losses suffered by real people.

History shows that it can be done. After Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, for example, or by the Commission for Property Claims in Bosnia and Herzegovina. But every example holds the same hard lesson: justice is a process that takes time. The Commission will be the most difficult to implement, because Russia will never pay voluntarily for the devastation it has caused. This is precisely why the widest possible international commitment is necessary, including from the participants of this International Claims Commission Conference to keep up the pressure.

Secretary General Berset, you can count on the European Union's full support. Today, I am proud to announce €1 million from the EU to support the establishment of the Claims Commission. As long as Russia refuses to end its war, the number of claims for compensation will continue to go up. We see every day that Russia almost exclusively hits civilian targets. It chooses to strike where it can cause maximum damage to civilians. This is not in accordance with International Humanitarian Law.

Over the weekend, more than a million households were without electricity because of Russian strikes on the energy infrastructure. Families were left in the dark just as temperatures drop below zero; this is not by accident; it is by design. Russia's terror tactics follow ruthless pattern to freeze cities, to shatter homes, to break the will of the people it seeks to destroy. But this has failed, and we need to make sure it will continue to fail. We do this by increasing the pressure on Russia and strengthening Ukraine's defenses.

Just yesterday, the EU imposed new sanctions on Russian oil traders and shadow fleet ships. These steps help to deprive Moscow of the funds to wage this war. In parallel, we also work to build up the legal framework to hold Russia to account for its war and other atrocities, also for the crime of aggression.

All this work sends a clear message to would-be aggressors: if you start the war, you will be held to account.

Thank you again.

Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/media/video/I-282709