Ukraine is seeking an international agreement to transfer Russian assets frozen by other countries for reconstruction

Ukraine's efforts to ensure it receives compensation from Russia for damage caused by its invasion are being hampered by allies' concerns about the legal precedents that might be set, a senior Ukrainian official said.

Kyiv is trying to secure an international agreement setting a legal basis for Russian assets frozen by other countries - notably billions of dollars in Russian central bank assets - to be transferred to Ukraine to help rebuild the country.

"We have no option but to make Russia pay reparations. If it doesn't do it voluntarily, (let's) fill a (compensation) fund with Russian money, foreign exchange reserves, Russian assets," Mudra told Reuters in an interview this week.

"They (some countries) are afraid that a precedent could be set... that their foreign assets could be affected."

She did not identify the countries that had expressed such concerns but said Ukraine was trying to allay their fears.

"This treaty will be exclusively for the situation of an egregious war of aggression" in breach of the founding U.N. Charter and International Court of Justice rulings "so that it cannot be used for other conflicts," she said.

Despite the obstacles ahead, Mudra said Ukraine hoped that an international mechanism for compensating Ukraine would be established within a year.

She also said she hoped an agreement on the creation of an international register of damage in Ukraine would be announced in May, and signed by foreign partners - including all the Group of Seven wealthy nations - by the start of June.

"This is the first - and an extremely important - step in the creation of this compensation mechanism," Mudra said.

"The process has started. It's inevitable, there's no way back."

Sourse: Reuters