On April 30, 2026, the Ukrainian Parliament ratified the Convention Establishing an International Claims Commission for Ukraine (the Convention), which is the third State to do so after Estonia and Latvia. Following the Register of Damage for Ukraine (the Register) (first component), the Convention is the second of three components of a broader compensation mechanism—a structured international legal and diplomatic effort to construct a treaty-based architecture to process and satisfy claims—for victims of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. It is envisaged that a compensation fund (third component) will eventually follow the Claims Commission under the Convention.
A day before this development, on April 29, 2026, it was also announced that the Register (which collects and verifies claims) is also open for claims categories concerning systemic economic losses sustained by business entities and by the Ukrainian State, in addition to individual losses. This expansion beyond individual claims to include business and State losses marks a shift from a primarily victim-focused intake phase to a more economically and systemically consequential stage of the compensation framework. In practical terms, it also signals that the Register is progressing from a largely symbolic repository into a functioning intake mechanism, gradually building a comprehensive evidentiary record of damage eligible for future adjudication by the Claims Commission and, ultimately, compensation from any fund that will be established.
The sequencing of these developments is notable: first, Ukraine is now transformed from a political proponent of the reparations framework into a formal participant in the legal architecture designed to implement it. Second, as the institutional architecture for deciding claims is consolidated, the evidentiary base feeding into it is being rapidly scaled up. Together, they signal a shift from largely symbolic institution-building toward a more functional system capable of handling the full scope—and scale—of Ukraine’s prospective reparations claims.
The Convention Establishing an International Claims Commission for Ukraine
Background and Current Signatories
Since the early days of the project’s initiation in 2022, the international community has been closely observing the evolution of the compensation mechanism for Ukraine and its broader implications for the development of international law. Established under the auspices of the Council of Europe on May 12, 2023, the Register is an innovative international legal institution with the mandate to record evidence and claims information on damage, loss, or injury caused by Russia’s internationally wrongful acts in or against Ukraine on or after February 24, 2022 (the date Russia’s full-scale invasion began). Less than a year after its creation, the Register opened for submission of its first category of claims on April 2, 2024.
By the time the Convention was opened for signature in December 2025, 44 States and the European Union had joined the Register as participants or associate members. As of April 30, 2026, the Register has received almost 150,000 claims, with a total number of over 45,000 claims recorded by the Register, encompassing the categories of death or missing of immediate family members, and damage or destruction of immovable properties.
Between March and September 2025, around 55 delegations—including Council of Europe member states, non-member states, and the European Union—participated in four rounds of formal treaty negotiations in The Hague for the Convention. The negotiating forum was subsequently reconstituted as the Ad hoc Committee on the Establishment of an International Claims Commission for Ukraine, which finalized the key elements of the draft convention at its first meeting on September 12, 2025 in The Hague.
The Convention was formally adopted and opened for signature at a diplomatic conference co-hosted by the Council of Europe and the Netherlands in The Hague on December 16, 2025, attended by delegations from over 50 States. On that date, 34 States and the European Union signed, with Greece adding its signature in Strasbourg on December 19, 2025, and thus bringing the total signatories to 35 States and the EU. The EU also announced a voluntary contribution of EUR 1 million toward the Claims Commission’s establishment costs.
As of April 30, 2026, three States—Estonia, Latvia, and Ukraine—have ratified the Convention which requires ratification by 25 signatories to fully enter into force.
Purpose and Mandate of the Convention
The Convention’s core purpose is to establish the Claims Commission as an independent administrative body with international legal personality, situated within the institutional framework of the Council of Europe, and mandated to review, assess, and decide claims for compensation arising from Russia’s internationally wrongful acts in or against Ukraine. The Convention describes the Claims Commission as the second component of a three-part mechanism: the Register of Damage (first component), the Claims Commission (second component), and a future compensation fund (third component).
In doing so, it helps translate recorded losses via the Register into legally grounded awards, thereby operationalizing the transition from documentation of harm to the delivery of reparations. It contemplates two future pathways for the payment of compensation awarded: (1) through Russia’s accession to the Convention, conditioned upon making a declaration expressly accepting legal responsibility for the damage caused and committing to honor the Claim’s Commission’s compensation decisions; or (2) through the establishment of a compensation fund at a point the Assembly—composed of all Member States to the Claims Commission—agrees appropriate. The latter will likely involve a new round of consultations and negotiations among member states including with respect to the payment mechanics of compensation awarded.
The Claims Commission’s temporal jurisdiction (covering damage, loss, or injury occurring on or after February 24, 2022) does not absolve Russia of responsibility for its internationally wrongful acts committed in or against Ukraine on or after February 20, 2014—the date of Russia’s earlier intervention in Crimea and eastern Ukraine—and that a future amendment could extend the Convention’s scope to cover that earlier period.
Under the Convention, eligible claimants include natural persons (individuals), legal persons (companies and organizations), the State of Ukraine itself, and Ukraine’s regional and local authorities and state-owned entities—provided the damage occurred within Ukraine’s internationally recognized territory (including airspace, internal waters, and territorial sea).
The Claims Commission is expressly mandated to make final decisions, including on the amount of compensation, not subject to further appeal or review. Furthermore, the Claims Commission shall work on the premise that Russia, under international law, is responsible for all damage caused by its internationally wrongful acts—a structural presumption grounded in the International Law Commission’s Articles on State Responsibility.
The Convention is candid about the enforcement challenge it faces. Member states are expressly not required to fund the compensation awards. Russia is expected to bear those costs—either through a future accession to the Convention (on terms requiring explicit acceptance of legal responsibility and a commitment to honor awards), or through the eventual establishment of the compensation fund. The mechanics for actual payment are left to a future Assembly decision once funding is available. Until Russia participates, the Claims Commission’s operating costs are borne through assessed contributions from member states and voluntary contributions, with the right of eventual recovery from Russia reserved.
The Convention also purposefully side-steps the most contested question of accountability for Russia’s war in Ukraine—namely, the disposition of Russian sovereign assets frozen in Western financial institutions. But this is a feature, not a bug as the Convention’s scope is limited to defining jurisdiction, applicable standards, and how compensation awards are determined—rather than on identifying or securing the assets that might ultimately be used to satisfy those awards. As such, the question of whether and how frozen Russian assets can be used for reparations remain the subject of separate future multilateral debates, while the Convention creates a multi-party legal framework within which that harder question could eventually be answered.
A Unique Institutional Structure and Governance
There are four notable aspects of the Convention’s creation and design.
- First, it was constructed without a United Nations Security Council authorization—given Russia’s veto power in the Security Council—and by adapting the Council of Europe framework to serve as the host institution for a treaty open well beyond its membership. This is a novel use of a regional organization’s institutional infrastructure to address a matter of global concern.
- Second, the speed of the process is historically unusual. From Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 to a signed multilateral convention establishing a permanent claims commission with international legal personality, it took under four years—a remarkable pace for treaty-based institution-building, particularly in the middle of an active armed conflict.
- Third, the Convention creates adjudicatory infrastructure for mass-scale individual compensation claims against a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council—a category of case that has no modern parallel. The Claims Commission’s mandate to decide tens of thousands of—likely even more—individual claims with finality, on the premise of established State responsibility, is an ambitious exercise in translating international legal accountability into operational reality.
- Fourth, the Convention expressly acknowledges its own incompleteness: it establishes the adjudicatory body and reserves the payment question for the compensation fund that remains to be created. The most contested question as to enforceability against Russian sovereign assets frozen in Western financial institutions is deliberately left for another instrument and the Convention’s value lies in creating the legal framework within which such a harder question could eventually be answered.
In terms of governance, the Convention sets up a four-organ structure to ensure broad Member State involvement, operational efficiency, and strong independence. The Assembly, which includes all member states, oversees the Commission’s mandate, finances, and major appointments, requiring wide consensus for most decisions and unanimous approval from major financial contributors for financial matters. Operational duties are delegated to the Council, a rotating group that appoints Commissioners, establishes panels, and manages procedural rules, while safeguarding the integrity of the process through special voting restrictions for Ukraine and Russia if they become members. Claims are reviewed by Panels of Commissioners—three independent experts—who make recommendations to the Council, which may accept, remit, or escalate decisions as needed. The Secretariat, led by an Executive Director elected by the Assembly, provides administrative support with strict independence rules, prohibiting external influence and requiring disclosure and resolution of conflicts of interest.
Update on Next Steps: Launch of New Claims Categories and Transition to a Claims Commission
On April 29, 2026, the Register launched new categories of claims for compensation for damage caused by Russia’s aggression. For the first time, legal entities and the Ukrainian State can now submit claims for compensation for damages or destructions of critical and non-critical infrastructures, as well as for damages, destructions, or loss of assets. The State of Ukraine, including State authorities, State institutions, local-self-governments, communities, municipalities etc., can submit claims in B categories. Legal persons, regardless of the organizational and legal form and form of ownership, including State and municipal enterprises, are eligible to submit claims in C categories.
The launch of the new claims categories is a fundamentally new stage in the work of the Register and in the development of the broader compensation mechanism. In addition to individual losses, the Register is now recording systemic economic losses sustained by business entities and by the State of Ukraine as a result of Russia’s aggression. This marks an important step in solidifying the foundation for and in the transition to a Claims Commission under the Convention, which is mandated to adjudicate the claims recorded by the Register.
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The author acknowledges the helpful contributions of Ceyda Knoebel and Meng Ye.
