By KYIV. Nov 1 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The parliament is considering the feasibility of expanding the eRecovery program to cover damaged and destroyed housing in the first phase of the war with the Russian Federation, since 2014, Chair of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on the Organization of State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional Development and Urban Planning, Head of the Servant of the People party Olena Shuliak has said.
“The eRecovery program will be expanded and changed depending on what the needs of Ukrainians who lost their housing or the opportunity to live in it due to the war will be. In particular, it is planned to launch a compensation program for residents of territories temporarily occupied during 2022, territories located in the area of military operations or territories surrounded, as well as for housing, the amount of damage to which amounts to more than UAH 200,000. In addition, the feasibility of compensation for damaged and destroyed housing in the first phase of the war with the Russian Federation is now being discussed – since 2014,” Shuliak said in the RBC-Ukraine article.
She added that from November 1, the issuance of housing certificates begins for exchange for new housing to Ukrainians whose housing was destroyed as a result of Russian aggression. And from January 1, 2024, Ukrainians who repaired it at their own expense will begin to receive compensation for damaged housing.
As of the end of October, Ukrainians submitted more than 55,000 applications for compensation for damaged housing, while almost 32,000 applications have already been processed and compensation for almost 24,000 applicants has been agreed upon for a total amount of UAH 2.2 billion. More than 5,000 applications for compensation for destroyed housing have now been received and a fifth of them have already been processed, agreeing on the issuance of 422 housing certificates for a total amount of UAH 811 million.
At the moment, the main source from which compensation is paid for housing damaged and destroyed as a result of the war is the Fund for Elimination of the Consequences of Armed Aggression. At the start of the program, UAH 61.7 billion were collected. Of these, UAH 35.9 billion is 50% of the National Bank’s profit for 2022 and UAH 25.8 billion received from the forced seizure of funds from the aggressor state, including the subsidiaries of Russian banks in Ukraine (for example, Sberbank and Prominvestbank).
Shuliak is convinced that there is no need to worry that the compensation funds will not be enough for everyone, since in the future the source for replenishing the financial resource of the eRecovery program will be funds from the sale of sanctioned assets of the Russian Federation. “In particular, the United States has now seized the money of Russian oligarch Konstantin Malafeev and Ukraine should work to ensure that such seized assets are sent specifically to Ukraine,” Shuliak said.
The expert added that, if we talk about Russian seized assets around the world, we can talk about tens of billions of U.S. dollars.
