Head of the Servant of the People party Elena Shulyak, author and main speaker of bill No. 7198 - on compensation for damage or destruction of property as a result of Russian aggression. Her opponents believe that this document signals to people that they will receive compensation for lost housing, which is good, but the fact that the law signals to specialists that they are not needed for restoration is very bad.. During an interview with Inna Vedernikova, Shulyak, commenting on the reproaches of opponents, stated that the bill absolutely defines the logic and concept.

" It was prepared together with the Ministry of Economy, the State Property Fund and people's deputies. Secondly, the draft law went through a difficult discussion of all parliamentary factions and groups. As a result, 307 deputies voted for him in the first reading.. Thirdly, I categorically do not accept accusations of untimeliness of the bill.. People have lost their homes, they have nowhere to live, nothing to rely on and they should not be left alone with grief. Critics, on the other hand, sit in the rear in warm apartments and do not feel in their own skin the problems of those who have lost everything..

Moreover, with this draft law, we do not talk at all about funds, money, we do not decide who will distribute them.. We are now only talking about how to prepare in advance, without waiting for peace to come and we begin to receive international funding, to prepare all the necessary legislative base for the restoration of the destroyed country. In order not to waste time later on writing and passing the law through parliament, which can take at least 6-9 months,"

According to her, the bill No. 7198 has absolutely defined logic and concept. There we are talking primarily about housing that is destroyed and cannot be restored.. It is clear that in order to receive reparations from Russia, it will be necessary to go a long way.. Do homeless people have time to wait years?

" We do not want to lose our people who, left without housing and work, will simply leave/not return to Ukraine. Therefore, it was decided to work on the bill right now,” Shulyak said.. - We have conceptually decided that only citizens of Ukraine will apply for compensation. Of course, we understand that there are foreigners and their rights will be violated by this bill.. But at the same time, we have absolutely no desire to compensate for the losses of citizens of the Russian Federation, of which there are many in Ukraine.. Considering how large sums will be needed to restore the housing stock, we understand that we will not pull this story ourselves and we will have to attract international money"

At the same time, we very consciously excluded legal entities from the compensation process.. Because we know that legal entities that own housing stock are most likely businesses.. As a result, all commercial and industrial real estate is excluded from the bill.. It is clear that it is difficult for business during the war, but it is even more difficult for people. Of course, we have problems with the business wing in the profile committee. Shulyak noted that Sergey Taruta, Lyudmila Buimister protect the industrial wing and fight to ensure that the bill takes into account the interests and representatives of business groups that have lost their property.

She added that while the position of the development team does not change. Let's deal with people first, then with everything else: " A number of norms of the bill may change by the second reading, but the conceptual provisions - no"

Another controversial norm is that the amount of compensation cannot exceed 150 square meters..

" Thanks to the Ministry of Digital Development and the ability to submit information notifications about destroyed and damaged housing to Diyu, we have the opportunity to analyze the data. Of the thousands of notifications filed, somewhere around 90 percent of the destroyed apartments are covered by these 150 meters. But 150 square meters as a limit is not suitable for destroyed houses in the private sector, where most houses are 180–250 square meters.. And here, obviously, it is necessary to revise and increase the norm to 250 square meters.. I believe that the limitation on footage should remain, the state will not be able to compensate for everything destroyed in a short time to every square meter, - said Shulyak.

- We had approximate calculations of how much money might be needed to implement the entire program, but now I understand that these calculations are so approximate that they should hardly be taken as a basis. Before us, only gradually, a picture emerges in the context of areas, destroyed houses, total footage, living people and other things.. Which, unfortunately, will still be corrected by the results of the war that Russia is waging against us"

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Read more articles by Inna Vedernikova at the link.