THE HAGUE, Dec 16,2025: European leaders including Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy meet in The Hague on Tuesday to launch an International Claims Commission to compensate Kyiv for hundreds of billions of dollars in damage from Russian attacks and alleged war crimes.
The one-day conference, co-hosted by the Netherlands and the 46-nation Council of Europe, the continent’s top rights group, was to be attended by dozens of senior figures including European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.
The meeting coincides with ongoing U.S.-backed peace diplomacy aimed at stopping the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russian officials were not immediately reachable to comment on the plan, but have repeatedly rejected allegations that Russian forces committed war crimes during the conflict.
POSSIBLE AMNESTY IN PEACE DEAL
The possible inclusion of an amnesty for wartime atrocities in a peace deal, which was at one point proposed by the administration of President Donald Trump, could complicate Europe’s plans to also compensate victims of abuses in Ukraine ranging from sexual violence and child deportations to destruction of religious sites.
The two-year-old Register of Damage, which will become part of the commission, has received more than 80,000 claims submitted by individuals, organisations and public bodies in Ukraine under a wide range of categories.
More than 50 states and the European Union have drafted a Council of Europe convention to create the commission, which will take force after it has been ratified by 25 signatories, as long as sufficient funds have been secured to finance the work.
A member of the White Angel unit of Ukrainian police officers, who evacuate people from the frontline towns and villages, checks an area for residents, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the frontline town of Dobropillia in Donetsk region, Ukraine December 9, 2025.
