All facts of damage or destruction of real estate must be properly documented. Documentation of the specified facts must be carried out following the advice outlined in the Algorithm of Actions for Fixing Destroyed or Damaged Property, developed by specialists of the working group. Proper documentation is the key to obtaining quality evidence to protect your rights in national and international courts, as well as when receiving compensation from the state.

In procedural legislation, evidence is any factual data, on the basis of which the court establishes the presence or absence of circumstances (facts) that justify the claims and objections of the participants in the case, and other circumstances that are important for the resolution of the case. Evidence may include: testimony, documents (written or electronic), expert opinions, and physical objects.

The main requirement for the recording of evidence is their proper legal registration and preservation in such a way that it is impossible to distort, damage, destroy or otherwise affect them in order to distort them or lose their credibility.

Therefore, one of the more reliable ways of preserving factual data is documentation in the form of a protocol, act, etc., which are certified by authorized persons and, if possible, registered with law enforcement bodies or local self-government bodies. At the same time, a bright and effective way of documenting is photo and video recording of available factual data with further documentation in accordance with legal regulations.

At the same time, it is necessary to make several authentic copies of the created documentary and photo-video materials, with proper legal confirmation, and store them in different places that will ensure their proper preservation, for example, a law enforcement agency, a court, a bank cell, relatives, etc.

The publication was prepared within the framework of the Project “Increasing awareness among self-governing municipalities and citizens on recording the destruction caused by war”, which is implemented by the Ukrainian Association of District and Regional Councils with the support of the “Phoenix” Project, which is implemented by the Eastern Europe Fund at the expense of the European Union.