Over 1.16 million weapons have been registered in Ukraine — over 42 000 cases of illegal handling of them were opened during the Great War

Over 1.16 million weapons and special equipment are officially registered in Ukraine. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, police have been seizing 5 000-6 000 illegal weapons each year, and the prosecutorʼs office has recorded about 10 000 cases of illegal handling of weapons, ammunition, and explosives.

This is stated in the responses of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office of Ukraine to Babelʼs inquiries.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as of April 1, 2026, there were 812 thousand registered owners of weapons and special equipment in Ukraine. They own 1 166 001 weapons. Of these are the following:

• 732 667 — hunting smoothbore weapons;
• 219 855 — hunting rifles;
• 192 780 — devices for shooting rubber bullets;
• 20 699 — gas pistols and revolvers.

At the same time, since 2022, the National Police have seized 24 230 unregistered weapons from illegal circulation, including:

• in 2022 — 5 332 units;
• in 2023 — 5 716 units;
• in 2024 — 5 997 units;
• in 2025 — 5 758 units (including 3 401 military-grade units);
• in the first quarter of 2026 – 1 427 weapons.

In addition, from the date of entry into force of amendments to the Law of Ukraine "On Ensuring the Participation of Civilians in the Defense of Ukraine" — from November 25, 2024 to April 21, 2026 — 19 929 units of "trophy" firearms and over 11 million pieces of ammunition for them were declared to the National Police. Another 448 units of weapons and over 78 thousand cartridges were voluntarily surrendered by Ukrainians without declaration.

At the same time, according to the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office, after 2022, about 10 thousand proceedings for illegal handling of weapons, ammunition, and explosives will be opened in Ukraine every year.

In particular, in January-February 2022, there were 1 371 such offenses, and in total for the year — 9 221. In 2023, 10 366 such cases were opened, in 2024 — 10 163, in 2025 — 9 948, and in the period from January to April 2026 — 3 036.

The prosecutorʼs office also provided statistics on crimes involving firearms. In 2022, 2 206 such criminal offenses were registered, in 2023 — 2 416, in 2024 — 1 235, in 2025 — 1 108. For January — April 2026 — 380.

In addition, from the beginning of 2022 to April 2026, 1 757 intentional homicides using firearms were recorded in Ukraine. There was a sharp spike in such offenses in 2023 — 954 cases compared to 255 in 2022.

• On April 18, a man opened fire on passersby in the Holosiivsky district of Kyiv. It all started with a quarrel with a neighbor — the man fired a traumatic pistol near his entrance, and then barricaded himself in a supermarket and took visitors hostage. As a result of the shooting, seven people died and 14 were injured. The shooter was eliminated. Law enforcement officers opened a case under the article about terrorist acts. Later it became known that the attacker had received a permit to own a weapon as a journalist and had systematically prepared for the attack.

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