Repair Money for a Damaged Home, a Housing Certificate for a Lost One: Ukraine’s “єВідновлення”

A home with a shattered window and a hole blown in the roof from a Russian attack. An apartment made unlivable by shelling. Ukraine has a system under which the state pays compensation to the owners of such housing, and it can be applied for through the e-government app “Diia” as a public service known as “єВідновлення” (“yeVidnovlennia,” roughly “e-Restoration”).

Its basis is Law No. 2923-IX of February 23, 2023, “On Compensation for Damage and Destruction of Certain Categories of Immovable Property as a Result of Combat Actions, Terrorist Acts and Sabotage Caused by the Armed Aggression of the Russian Federation Against Ukraine, and on the State Register of Property Damaged and Destroyed as a Result of Combat Actions, Terrorist Acts and Sabotage Caused by the Armed Aggression of the Russian Federation Against Ukraine.” The law provides that it takes effect two months after publication.

Housing That Is Damaged, and Housing That Is Lost

The law treats housing in two categories: “damaged” housing that can be made livable again through repair, and “destroyed” housing that can no longer be used for its original purpose. It covers apartments in multi-unit buildings, detached houses, garden or dacha homes and similar dwellings, as well as housing under construction that had reached a certain stage of completion (Article 1).

Compensation for damaged housing is provided in three forms (Article 10):

• Carrying out the repair work itself, or providing building materials
• Transferring funds into a dedicated account restricted to use for repair work and materials
• Reimbursing the owner afterward for repair and material costs they paid themselves

Compensation for destroyed housing takes three forms (Article 8):

• Transferring funds into a dedicated account restricted to building a detached house
• Issuing a “housing certificate” (житловий сертифікат) to buy a new home
• Handing over to the owner housing rebuilt under a community’s recovery plan (added by a September 2024 amendment)

Someone who has lost a detached house can choose among these, but compensation for someone who has lost an apartment in a multi-unit building is limited to the housing certificate (Article 8.2).

The Cap on Repair Compensation

The procedure for compensating damaged housing is set out in Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 381 of April 21, 2023. According to this resolution and the responsible ministry’s guidance page (dated June 18, 2026), compensation is divided into two tiers based on the extent of the damage.

The ministry’s guidance recommends that anyone whose home is damaged first report it to the State Emergency Service (101) and the police (102) so the damage is put on record. If the same home is damaged again, a new application can be filed based on the “repair report” from the previous application.

What the Housing Certificate Can, and Cannot, Buy

The housing certificate is an electronic document by which the state guarantees payment for a new home’s purchase price (Article 1). The procedure for compensating destroyed housing is set out in Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 600 of May 30, 2023. The main provisions relevant to users are as follows (Article 8):

• The compensation amount is set per owner and per property, based on the floor area of the lost housing and the price per square meter. For jointly owned property, it is based on the owner’s share
• It can be used to buy either new or existing housing, together with the land it stands on. Certificates belonging to several people, such as family members, can be combined to buy one home
• Housing cannot be bought in occupied territory, or in a hromada (basic local government unit) on the government’s list of combat zones or besieged areas
• If buying housing worth more than the certificate, the owner pays the difference themselves. Where a cheaper home is bought, the difference is recorded in the registry, to be paid, it is stated, from reparations obtained from Russia
• Housing bought with the certificate cannot be sold for five years
• An application to use the certificate must be made within five years of its issuance

There is one more rule specific to receiving compensation for destroyed housing. The recipient signs a contract transferring to the state or a local government, up to the amount received, their right to seek reparations from Russia for the damage to that housing (Article 8.18). According to the ministry’s guidance, before using a certificate or receiving rebuilding funds, ownership of the lost housing must first be terminated in the registry.

Who Can Apply, and Who Is Given Priority

Compensation is available to Ukrainian citizens who own the housing, and to their heirs and others (Article 2). For damage to the common areas of a multi-unit building, a homeowners’ association or similar body is the recipient. Excluded are people under sanctions and people convicted of crimes against national security.

The law states that its compensation provisions do not extend to housing in territory that was already occupied by Russia when martial law began, on February 24, 2022, in connection with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine (preamble). Housing in territory occupied since 2014 is outside the scope of this system.

The ministry’s guidance states that compensation is available only to owners whose ownership is registered in the State Register of Property Rights to Immovable Property. Housing acquired before 2013 is sometimes not in the electronic registry, and in that case it explains that the owner must first register it through a Administrative Services Center (CNAP), a notary, or a state registrar. Publicly owned housing that has not been privatized is not eligible for compensation.

Compensation for destroyed housing is, as a rule, reviewed in the order applications are received. The law then gives priority to combat participants, people with disabilities from the war, mobilized persons, families with many children, people with a Category I or II disability, and internally displaced persons meeting government-set criteria (Article 9; internally displaced persons were added by a December 2024 amendment).

How and When to Apply

Applications can be submitted electronically through the Diia app or portal (the unified state web portal of electronic services), or on paper through an Administrative Services Center, a social protection body, or a notary (Article 4.2). The law states that an application can be filed regardless of the applicant’s registered place of residence or the location of the housing (Article 4.5). Diia’s functions are covered in Diia’s E-Passport Cannot Be Used at the Border and Has No Legal Effect Abroad.

Applications are reviewed by a committee the local community forms where the housing is located. Review of an application for destroyed housing must be completed within 30 days, extendable by a further 30 days for housing in a combat zone or occupied hromada (Article 6.3). A decision can be appealed to the courts if the applicant disagrees (Article 11).

Applications for compensation for destroyed housing are to be filed during martial law and within one year after martial law ends in that area (Article 4.1). For housing damaged or destroyed by mines or mine clearance after martial law ends, applications may be filed within three years of the end of martial law (final and transitional provisions).

Where Does the Money Come From?

The law lists as funding sources the state and local budgets (including the Fund for Restoration of Property and Infrastructure and the Fund for Eliminating the Consequences of Armed Aggression), funds from international financial institutions, international technical and financial assistance, and “reparations and other recoveries from the Russian Federation” (Article 13). The law states that the procedure for paying purchase money through housing certificates may be halted when funds are unavailable (Article 8.12), and the ministry’s guidance likewise explains that payment follows the order of applications and the availability of funds.

The overall scale of housing damage from the full-scale invasion is estimated in damage and recovery-needs assessments by the World Bank and others. This is covered in Recovery Cost Estimates Have Grown from $348.5 Billion to $587.7 Billion over Five Assessments.