Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, announced Tuesday that Ukrainian people are now able to file claims for damages incurred following Russia’s invasion, through a newly-established register in the Hague.

The announcement came during the Minister’s speech at the “Restoring Justice for Ukraine” conference, attended by delegates from 57 countries, being held in the Hague. In the speech, Kuleba expressed that the Ukrainian people didn’t “want to hear that justice will be served. They want to see it served already. Not only on the battlefield, but in the courtrooms and real decisions as well. And they have a right to demand this.” His speech outlined the mechanisms by which people will be entitled to request compensation for any damage or destruction of residential property, with the hope that its remit will broaden in the future to include infrastructure.

The Register of Damage Caused by the Aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine (RD4U), was created by the Council of Europe in May 2023 and seeks to hold Russia accountable for reparations. It was officially opened on Tuesday and had already seen hundreds of claims in a first step towards building an international compensation mechanism.

The creation of the register follows Ukraine’s establishment and exploration of several other legal routes to hold Russia accountable for their invasion. In a video addressed to the conference, Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, said:

Justice is the very line from which the movement towards secure peace may begin. Weapons give physical protection, but it is justice that restores the sense of security to life that was protected with the strength of weapons…Every potential aggressor should know what awaits him if he ruins peace. It is justice that can ensure this.