A clear, step-by-step algorithm of actions and 17 ready-made templates of documents have been presented by experts of the Ukrainian Agri Council during today's practical seminar "Damage of agricultural enterprises: how to record damage and destructions", which was held with the support of the USAID Agriculture Growing Rural Opportinities Activity - AGRO. The experts also provided practical recommendations and answered the questions.

More than 400 participants took part in the event: agricultural producers, state authorities and local governments, human rights organizations.

"Documentation of losses will lead us to the result - to compensate losses caused to agricultural enterprises by the actions of Russians. All farmers should remember that international law stands on their protection, even in the occupied territories. The sooner damages are documented, the sooner compensation will take place," said Serhiy Kubakh, Head of the Land Reform Division of the USAID Agriculture Growing Rural Opportinities Activity (AGRO).

In order to receive compensation for destruction, it is worth to act on prejudice. "Nowadays there is no practice of losses compensation, but it will definitely be. Our task is to prepare and record cases of crimes in order to further act in international institutions," added Dmytro Kokhan, the UAC Adviser on Issues of Interaction with State Authorities.

"First of all, it is important to establish and prove that the fact of damage or destruction of property took place directly in connection with Russian aggression," said Viktoria Kipriyanova, the UAC Expert on Legal and Regulatory Issues.

The experts have identified two types of damages: direct damages and lost profits. Direct damages include losses of injured party in connection with the destruction or damage of property, namely the value of the property, determined in accordance with the requirements of the law.

According to Ruslan Kalnytskyi, an expert of the analytical center of the UAC "Smart Country", the lost benefit is the income that the injured part could actually receive under normal circumstances, if his right had not been violated. That means, the unearned profit, which the injured party had the right to count on in the event of proper performance of the obligation by the other party. Both direct losses and lost profits must be carefully documented by businesses.

A separate part of the webinar was dedicated to record crimes in the temporarily occupied territories. The UAC Expert of on Legal and Regulatory Issues Vitalii Nakonechnyi explained: the first thing farmers on uncontrolled territory should do is to send a message to the military administration or local self-government body about the loss of effective control over the object.

The event was also attended by consultants of the UAC – “Donets and Partners” Law Firm who provided practical pieces of advice to the affected enterprises on recording war crimes.

Webinar presentation, methodological recommendations and document templates are available at the link.

The full video of the webinar can be viewed on the UAC Facebook page.

To get an additional piece of advice on fixing losses, just call the number +38 067 503 19 08

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We will remind you that the UAC and the USAID Agriculture Growing Rural Opportinities Activity - AGRO have launched a joint project to support the economic recovery of the agricultural sector of Ukraine, which suffered as a result of Russia's military aggression against Ukraine.

As part of the project, the best international practices for recording war crimes and calculating the losses caused by them will be implemented. Based on the collected information, an evidence database will be created to confirm the crimes committed by the Russian Federation against Ukraine.

In the future, the collected evidence base will be used to submit individual applications or to join already existing collective actions to the international courts for the purpose of compensation for the damage caused.

The event made possible through support provided by the U. S. Agency for International Development (USAID) through the USAID Agriculture Growing Rural Opportunities Activity (AGRO) implemented by Chemonics International. The authors’ views do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government. More details about the USAID AGRO are available at https://www.facebook.com/usaid.agro/”.