European leaders met in Iceland to calculate the cost of Russia’s war

REYKJAVIK, Iceland — European leaders on Tuesday vowed to hold Russia accountable for its war against Ukraine and introduced a mechanism to track casualties and damage inflicted by Moscow’s forces.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Richie Sunak were among those who underlined their support for Ukraine at a rare meeting of the Council of Europe’s human rights body, which is gathering in Iceland for a two-day summit.

They were joined via video link by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after his tour of European capitals to get more weapons and aid ahead of an expected counteroffensive against Russian forces.

The Reykjavik meeting introduced a new Damage Register, a mechanism for recording and documenting evidence and claims of damage, loss or damage caused by the Russian invasion.

“It’s time to push back”

The meeting also sought to touch on other issues, including the plight of thousands of children taken to Russia or Russian-occupied territories from Ukraine since the start of the war, which Kiev and its allies denounce as illegal deportation.

“The moment to step back is now. Democracies like ours must build resilience so that we can transcend cooperation and compete with those who drive instability,” Sunak said in his speech.

“We will hold Russia accountable for the horrific war crimes that have been committed, and we must also learn the lessons of this war by being prepared to confront threats to our societies before they become too great to deal with,” he added.

Echoing these remarks, Scholz said that the council is important to “punish the war crimes of the Russian occupiers and demand responsibility for the enormous damage that Russia is inflicting on Ukraine day after day.”

Macron’s office said the council was looking at how the Council of Europe’s Development Bank could help meet the needs of struggling Ukrainians.

Cyber ​​attacks

Ahead of the leaders’ arrival, several Icelandic government institutions and private sector websites, including the parliament, government and Supreme Court, were briefly hit by cyber attacks.

The pro-Russian hacker group NoName057 claimed responsibility for the attacks in a Telegram message mentioning the Council of Europe meeting and Zelensky’s speech.

This is only the fourth summit of the 46-member Council of Europe since its foundation after World War II.

Its democratic values ​​are supported by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, where citizens can sue governments for human rights violations.

Russia’s membership was suspended the day after it invaded Ukraine. Moscow then left the corps hours before the vote to expel him.

Turkey is facing expulsion from the Council of Europe after it failed to comply with a 2019 court order to free imprisoned businessman and philanthropist Osman Kavala.

At the summit, Sunak also met with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The leaders agreed to strengthen cooperation on migration with a new working arrangement between British agencies and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, according to a statement from Sunac’s office.

Sunak will also advocate reforming the European Court of Human Rights’ powers to block deportation flights of British migrants to Rwanda, plans criticized as inhumane by opponents, charities and religious leaders.