Doctoral researcher Illia Chernohorenko speaks at Westminster panel on reparations for Ukraine

Illia Chernohorenko, a DPhil candidate in Law at Oxford, was invited to address senior UK parliamentarians on 24 February at a high-level event marking four years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

The panel was organised by REDRESS, an international human rights NGO that works with survivors of torture and related international crimes to secure justice and reparations, and was hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Magnitsky Sanctions and Reparation. 

Chaired by Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP, the event brought together Lord Banner KC, Lord Blencathra, Sir Julian Lewis MP, Lord Carlile of Berriew CBE KC, Baroness Goudie, and Lord Alton of Liverpool, alongside representatives of leading NGOs working on sanctions and accountability. The discussion examined how the UK can help deliver justice and reparation to Ukrainian survivors of serious human rights violations, including conflict-related sexual violence and torture. Many of these survivors have received no compensation to date.

Illia joined a panel alongside Lyra Nightingale, Senior Legal Advisor at REDRESS, and Iryna Dovgan, Head of the Global Network of Victims and Survivors to End Wartime Sexual Violence (SEMA Ukraine). The focus was on the international compensation mechanism for Ukraine, including the Register of Damage and the proposed International Claims Commission for Ukraine.

Drawing on the latest Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA5) issued by the Government of Ukraine, the World Bank, the European Commission and the United Nations, Illia highlighted that Ukraine’s reconstruction and recovery needs are now estimated at $588 billion over the next decade – nearly three times the country’s GDP for 2025. He noted that approximately 110,000 claims have already been submitted to the Register of Damage, with between six and ten million claims expected in total, making it the largest mass claims process in Europe in modern history.

Although 35 states and the European Union have signed the Convention establishing the International Claims Commission for Ukraine, it will only enter into force once 25 states ratify and meet the required financial threshold. Illia argued that early UK ratification would allow Britain to shape the Commission’s rules of procedure and governance structures, reinforcing its leadership in international justice. He said: “Ratify early. Meet the financial threshold. Activate the Commission. Turn responsibility into remedy. That is how the legal order answers aggression.”

Illia’s doctoral research focuses on the repurposing of assets affiliated with aggressor states as a means of redress for violations of international law. As the former Director-General for the Rule of Law Directorate at the Ministry of Justice in Ukraine and, later, a consultant to the President of Ukraine within the Commission on Legal Reform, Illia has worked at the highest levels of justice reform in Ukraine. He also acts as one of the Reporters for the European Law Institute’s project Guiding Principles on Seizing and Confiscating Sanctioned Assets, led by Sir Geoffrey Vos, Master of the Rolls and Head of Civil Justice in England and Wales.