Ukraine uses DPI and low-code on its Diia platform to scale up war damage claims portal

The mechanism to help Ukrainian residents claim reparations for the Ukraine-Russia war has gone global.  

Since February 23, displaced Ukrainian citizens and foreign nationals could now submit claims to the international Register of Damage (RD4U) from anywhere in the world.  

With a robust digital public infrastructure (DPI) and low-code platform, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine has been able to securely and quickly scale RD4U on its Diia web portal and mobile app.  
 

RD4U was an online submission system developed by Ukrainian govtech company Kitsoft and ministry in May 2023.  

The current edition has expanded from 15 to 28 categories of claims covering non-material harm incurred due to involuntary displacement.  

These claims include business and entrepreneurship losses, infrastructure damage, loss of assets, restricted access to healthcare and education, and other violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. 

RD4U is also now integrated with the central case management system in The Hague, The Netherlands, as part of an international evidence system, partnering with the Council of Europe, European Union (EU) and partner states. 

“As the system continues to expand, Ukraine and its partners are building a mechanism intended to ensure that war damage is not only recorded, but ultimately addressed through international justice and compensation,” according to an official release by Kitsoft.  

MP Olena Shulyak, the head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on the Organisation of State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional Development and Urban Planning, Ukraine, shared that over 115,000 applications have been submitted, and she expects this number to grow with this new update. 

Scaling the system 

The RD4U leverages Ukraine’s DPI to enable secure data exchange between government registries, automated verification of citizen’s submitted information, and is integrated with the central records in The Hague. 

Kitsoft revealed that RD4U is currently integrated with approximately 20 national government registries in Ukraine, enabling claims to be validated against official records. 

The records might range from property rights, civil status records, business entities, and damaged property.  

RD4U is looking to integrate with the information systems of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine and the Pension Fund of Ukraine. 

Moving forward, the government was also planning to avail the claim submission service through administrative service centres to target digitally-excluded citizens.  

It was also working with legal entities to implement digital authorisation tools to allow authorised representatives from companies to submit claims electronically. 

“Managing a project of the scale of the International Register of Damage means constantly balancing international legal standards, high technical reliability, and strict deadlines,” said Kitsoft’s Project Manager, Vladyslav Furda. 

She further highlighted Kitsoft’s role in building processes on their low-code platform, which ranged from synchronising with state registers, implementing robust data protection and ensuring security and data preservation.  

Kitsoft’s CEO, Oleksandr Iefremov, previously told GovInsider that the Ukrainian government has adopted a low-code and open-source approach with the Diia platform to stay agile. 

By doing so, they can roll out new innovations within just four to six weeks, ensuring the technology evolves alongside user requirements. 

Diia also utilises Trembita, the data exchange layer of Ukraine’s DPI, to simplify the integration process between government services and ministry data.