New category A1.2 in the International Register of Losses: how to apply for compensation for forced displacement outside Ukraine

The International Register of Damages for Material, Physical and Moral Damage Caused by Russia in Ukraine has opened a new section A1.2 – “Forced Displacement Outside Ukraine”. It allows for filing a claim for those who left the country due to a threat to their life or safety and were unable to return. However, it is important for each applicant to correctly formulate the circumstances of the displacement, prepare the necessary supporting documents and comply with the established requirements in order for the claim to be entered into the Register.

Lawyers of the law firm “Repeshko and Partners” commented on the key aspects of filing applications in this category, explaining its significance in the context of international law and preparing for filing applications. This allows you to systematize information, prioritize documents, and prepare the applicant for what the Registry Board will check.

Previously, we talked about category A1.1 in the International Registry of Losses, which recognizes damage related to internal displacement. Currently, another section of the registry has been opened – A1.2 – “Forced displacement outside Ukraine”.

This category of the register applies to all those who, starting from February 24, 2022, were forced to leave their home or place of residence and move outside Ukraine, or did not have or do not have the opportunity to return to Ukraine as a result of the aggression of the Russian Federation or in order to avoid its negative consequences, can now apply for compensation for the fact of forced displacement outside the state.

Category A1.2 in the International Register of Damages (RD4U) is dedicated to forced displacement outside Ukraine. It was created for individuals who left the country after February 24, 2022 due to the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation. The main purpose of the category is to record the intangible consequences of such displacement, including disruption of daily life, psychological stress and inconvenience caused by the loss of their usual environment.

Registration in category A1.2 is the legal foundation for further receipt of compensation from the Russian Federation. Filing a claim allows you to officially record the damage and creates the basis for future payments when the International Compensation Commission, established in accordance with the international convention signed by 35 states and the EU in December 2025, becomes operational. Even if you do not have direct material losses, filing a claim allows you to record the intangible consequences – moral suffering and difficulties associated with forced departure.

You can now file a claim remotely via the Diya portal or mobile application, regardless of your country of residence. To do this, you must log in using Diya.Signature, BankID or KEP and provide passport data, information about the date and place of border crossing, as well as confirmation of your status of stay abroad. The applicant can also add any additional materials that help recreate the circumstances of the departure.

Filing a claim today has another important goal – documenting facts that may become more difficult to confirm over time. Each recorded statement adds to the general international evidence base and increases the chances of bringing the aggressor to justice. Category A1.2 allows you to systematize this data and save it in a convenient form, which will become the basis for legal procedures in the future.

To submit this statement, you must register or log in to your citizen’s account on the portal diia.gov.ua using an electronic signature.

Category A1.2 is intended for Statements related to forced displacement outside the territory of Ukraine on or after February 24, 2022, caused by internationally unlawful actions of the Russian Federation in Ukraine or against Ukraine. In fact, the category covers only statements related to the fact of forced displacement outside Ukraine. In fact, these are statements about compensation for mental pain and suffering that citizens have suffered due to forced displacement outside Ukraine.

If during your forced relocation outside Ukraine you have suffered material losses, such as loss of work or income, loss of housing, damage or destruction of real estate, or other economic losses, these cases are recorded in separate categories of the register. That is, category A1.2 is intended only for recording non-material damage, and all applications for financial losses are submitted through the relevant sections specifically provided for this.

For the purposes of this category of the register, a person “forcibly displaced outside Ukraine” is any person who was forced to leave or abandon their housing or place of residence and moved outside Ukraine, or who does not have or did not have the opportunity to return to Ukraine on or after February 24, 2022 as a result of internationally unlawful actions of the Russian Federation in Ukraine or against Ukraine, or in order to avoid the negative consequences of such actions.

We would like to emphasize that a person who has been granted or was granted protection or asylum in another state as a result of internationally wrongful actions of the Russian Federation in Ukraine or against Ukraine on or after February 24, 2022 is considered forcibly displaced outside Ukraine.

It is also necessary to pay attention to the fact that applications for forced displacement or deportation are submitted separately in categories A2.8 and A2.9 – Forcible displacement or deportation of children and adults.

In category A1.2, only one application can be submitted by each person forcibly displaced outside Ukraine or on their behalf. Applications on behalf of minor children or persons under guardianship or trusteeship are submitted by their representatives with confirmation of authority. Applications in this category are subject to entry in the Register of Losses for Ukraine if the forced displacement outside Ukraine was carried out exclusively on February 24, 2022 or after this date!

Furthermore, filing an application under this category of the Register does not preclude filing an application under category A1.1 – Forced Internal Displacement, and vice versa.

The decision on whether your application can be included in the Register is made by the Register Board. Such a decision does not mean that your application has been considered on the merits or assessed, that any compensation has been awarded or that any payment is due to you. The consideration of your application on the merits and the award of any compensation will be carried out by a future compensation mechanism that has yet to be established.

Before filing an application, it is recommended that you familiarize yourself with the information about the Register, as well as the various rules and instructions related to filing an application. All applications must be submitted using the application forms approved by the Register for each category.

Category A1.2 includes applications directly related to the fact of forced displacement outside Ukraine. The amount of compensation will be determined by the future compensation mechanism. Therefore, you do not need to submit evidence regarding the amount of compensation for this category.

Once the application is submitted to the Register via the Diia web portal www.diia.gov.ua, the Register will process and review the supporting evidence and make a decision on whether your application is eligible for inclusion in the Register. You will be informed of the Register’s decision in accordance with the established procedure via Diia.

In addition to the application itself, you will need to provide certain information and evidence in support of your application, including information about the applicant’s identity and the events related to the forced flight or departure. Some information will be taken from various existing electronic sources.

To complete the application, you will need:

• information about the passport document with which the border was crossed;
• document and materials confirming forced resettlement (if available);
• document and materials confirming the impossibility of return (if you left before 02/24/2022);
• documents and materials confirming the provision of asylum by another state (if available);
• document confirming another citizenship (if you have more than one citizenship);
• document on belonging to a subgroup, if any (military, medical, critical infrastructure worker, etc.), these can be: service certificates, employment contracts, orders, etc.

In addition, you can provide any other additional materials and evidence to support the application regarding any aspects of it as you consider necessary to provide them.

Files must be in PNG, JPG, HEIC formats. File size must not exceed 5 MB. When submitting an application, it is necessary to indicate information about the circumstances that caused the forced movement outside Ukraine. Such circumstances may include, for example:

• damaged or destroyed housing;
• the settlement is (was) in the territory of active hostilities or the territory of possible hostilities;
• the settlement is (was) in temporarily occupied territories;
• threat of active hostilities in the territory of the settlement;
• threat of occupation of the settlement;
• displacement caused by the destruction of the Kakhovka HPP;
• lack of proper living conditions that must be indicated.

You can also indicate other circumstances that caused forced flight or departure from your permanent place of residence outside Ukraine, or made it impossible for you to return to Ukraine on or after February 24, 2022.

Please note that you do not have to complete the entire application at once. You may save a draft of your application and complete it later. However, it is advisable to ensure that all necessary information is prepared and available to you.

You should also ensure that the files submitted as part of your Application are accessible, readable and not infected with computer viruses or any malicious software. If the Registry finds that the files you have submitted are inaccessible, unreadable or infected, your application may not be included in the Register.

Please note that applications from citizens of the Russian Federation are not eligible for inclusion in the Register. However, applications from citizens of the Russian Federation may be included in the Register if they can prove that they also have another citizenship.

You can submit an application for forced displacement from any region of Ukraine, including from temporarily occupied territories, if this has resulted in your displacement outside Ukraine. If a citizen was forced to move from their home or place of residence outside Ukraine due to a full-scale Russian invasion, but according to Ukrainian law their home or place of residence is not located in a temporarily occupied territory or in a zone of active hostilities, they can also submit an application. The legal status of the home or place of residence is not decisive for whether a person was forced to flee due to a full-scale Russian invasion. In doing so, you should provide as much information as possible about why you were forced to move.

If a citizen was forced to leave their home or place of residence and move outside Ukraine due to a full-scale Russian invasion, but returned to it after a few months, when, in their opinion, it became safer there, they can also submit an application for the period of forced displacement outside Ukraine.

In the event that due to military actions of the Russian Federation a citizen was forced to leave his/her home or place of residence and move to another place in Ukraine before eventually going abroad, he/she may also apply for a period of forced displacement outside Ukraine under category A1.2. In such a case, it is also worth considering applying for a period of forced displacement within Ukraine under category A1.1.

In the event that a citizen was forced to leave his/her home or place of residence and move abroad due to a full-scale Russian invasion and eventually returned to Ukraine but was unable to return to his/her previous home or place of residence, he/she may also apply for a period of forced displacement outside Ukraine.

In the event that a person has been an internally displaced person in Ukraine since 2014 and was forced to leave their new place of residence and leave Ukraine due to the full-scale Russian invasion, they may also file an application for forced displacement outside Ukraine due to the full-scale Russian invasion starting from February 24, 2022.

When submitting an application, you should provide as much evidence as is necessary to establish forced displacement outside Ukraine. You decide for yourself what evidence to provide. If you have received protection or asylum in another state as a result of the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine, this information should be indicated.

Evidence to support the application in this section may include:

• a detailed description of the facts;
• relevant court decisions;
• rental agreements or utility bills;
• photos and video materials; and
• written statements from neighbors, representatives of local housing and utility organizations or managers, or other persons who can confirm the fact of your forced displacement outside Ukraine.

However, it is worth knowing that the list provided is not exhaustive.

To prove that your forced displacement outside Ukraine was caused by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, you should provide as much information about your displacement as possible, including:

• evidence that you were granted protection or asylum by another state as a result of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine;
• the circumstances of your forced displacement outside Ukraine;
• the address of your home or place of residence that you were forced to leave or to which you are unable to return;
• the date or period of time that you were forced to leave or were unable to return to your home or place of residence, your address after the displacement; and
• any other family members who moved with you.

In this case, it is not necessary to determine the degree of mental pain and suffering that you have experienced due to forced displacement outside the borders of Ukraine and to provide your own or expert assessment of your mental pain and suffering, or any other evidence of this.

If a person displaced outside the borders of Ukraine has received financial or other assistance from the state, international donors or public organizations, he or she may also submit an application regardless of whether you received financial or other assistance.

In the case of forced displacement of a person outside the borders of Ukraine, he or she does not have protection or asylum status in another state, he or she may also submit an application.

If, after forced displacement outside Ukraine to another state, a person was granted protection or asylum in that state not immediately, but later, when submitting an application to the Register, the date when the person left Ukraine, i.e. the date of displacement, and the date when he received protection or asylum should be indicated. In the event that a citizen went abroad for treatment, study, vacation or for another reason at the beginning of the full-scale aggression of Russia and then planned to return to Ukraine, but due to the full-scale aggression of Russia he was unable to return for security reasons or for other reasons, he can also submit an application to the Register.

Therefore, we advise you to carefully prepare all documents, describe the circumstances of the displacement in as much detail as possible, check the accessibility and readability of files, and in case of doubt, consult with lawyers so that the procedure for entering an application into the Register is as correct and without delay as possible.