Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian aggression, hundreds of Ukrainian enterprises have been forced to stop their operations in whole or in part, some of them being located in the temporarily occupied territory. How to determine the losses incurred by enterprises, institutions and organizations of all forms of ownership as a result of the destruction and damage to their property in connection with the armed aggression of the Russian Federation, as well as lost profits from the impossibility or obstacles to economic activity, experts-economists of Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise told in an exclusive commentary to UNN.
Details
According to experts, the Russian Federation's aggression against Ukraine has already resulted in incredibly serious economic losses estimated at tens of billions of dollars. In order to ensure proper compensation for the losses caused by the enemy in the future, it is necessary to properly record and document the facts of damage and destruction of property, as well as to conduct a full and reasonable assessment of real losses and lost profits.
"At present, KFI is conducting comprehensive examinations that help to establish all the circumstances of the cases. The joint work of military experts, economists and experts in the field of engineering, technical and commodity research makes it possible to obtain conclusions on the type of destruction, identification of weapons, the causal relationship between the event and the damage to property, the cost of its restoration, etc. and, as a result, to summarize the losses incurred by the company.
In fact, economic losses of enterprises are an area that includes losses of enterprises of all forms of ownership as a result of destruction and damage to their property, as well as lost profits from the inability or obstacles to conduct business activities," the KFI said.
It is noted that, in general, losses can be divided into two main categories. First, it is property destroyed as a result of hostilities or damaged during the occupation. And secondly, property located in the temporarily occupied territories.
"For example, in the Kyiv region, a company was the victim of a missile attack that partially destroyed its property. A forensic economic examination determines the amount of damage. Comprehensive studies can also determine the value of destroyed buildings, equipment, inventory, etc. It is also important to take into account the losses associated with the cessation of the company's operations for the recovery period. Experts estimate that the amount of losses in the case in question amounted to about $9 million.
In turn, in Mykolaiv region, a small enterprise survived the period of occupation, but suffered significant losses as a result. In this case, the losses are determined by the inability to carry out business activities, looting of material and technical resources, etc. It is important to note that after the de-occupation, the company may face additional difficulties in resuming its operations. The amount of losses reached almost USD 1 million.
As for the second category of losses, we have an example from Donetsk region, where one of the flagships of the chemical industry is located in the territory that has become the object of occupation. As part of the forensic economic examination, it was established that the lost profits that arose due to the inability to carry out economic activities due to the occupation, and, as a result, the loss of sales markets, breach of contracts and other factors, amounted to about $2.5 billion," explains the peculiarities of establishing damages by the experts of the Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise.
The experts add that in all of these examples, forensic economic expertise is used to objectively determine the losses that the company suffered due to military events and their consequences.
There are many such cases, all of which are based on very real stories of people affected by the war. The issue of compensation is long, complex, and requires special attention at every stage, of which there are many.
"At the same time, we are convinced that the establishment of international or national reparations mechanisms is a matter of time, and this work is underway. Therefore, it is important to prepare the proper evidence base and grounds for bringing the enemy to justice today. The crime of Russian aggression and the damage caused by the aggressor state should not go unpunished," the experts summarized.