Illegal Handling of Weapons and Explosive Substances in the Light of Ukrainina Police Statistics

In 2014, Russia started a new war against Ukraine, which turned into a full-scale invasion in 2024. This obviously led to the militarisation of Ukrainian society because of all the weapons from the front lines. It is reasonable to assume that many veterans kept weapons captured or found on the battlefield during the period 2013-2022, and that this trend has likely continued and grown in scale.

Therefore, the decrease in the number of crimes involving illegal handling of weapons, ammunition or explosives in 2019-2021 may not reflect the real situation in Ukrainian society regarding the number of people who have stored and continue to store firearms and explosives.

Even an increase in the number of registered crimes in 2022 may not reflect the real situation, especially considering that large areas of Ukraine were under occupation and, once liberated, allowed local residents to find and store Russian weapons.

Again, the greater mobilisation of Ukrainians creates a reasonable presumption of even greater saturation of society with weapons, as indicated by the fact that, even according to official statistics, in the first six months of 2025, 65% of crimes involving illegal handling of weapons, combat supplies or explosives out of the total number of crimes registered in 2024.

Statistical indicators of crimes involving the illegal manufacture, alteration or repair of firearms or the falsification, illegal removal or alteration of their markings, or the illegal manufacture of ammunition, explosive substances or explosive devices (Article 263-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) fully correspond to the statistics on crimes related to illegal possession of weapons (Article 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). It can only be added that in the first six months of 2025, 76% of crimes related to the illegal manufacture of weapons were registered, compared to the same indicator for the whole of 2024.