"The dream of every first-timer in the army." How to legalize captured weapons in Ukraine

For 2025, 16,348 units of weapons have been declared in Ukraine. Of these, 60% – 9,908 units – are automatic carbines, mostly of the AK (Kalashnikov Assault Rifle) system. Another 1,062 are rifles, including sniper rifles. This arsenal is enough to fully equip two complete military brigades.But these almost twenty thousand "barrels" are just a drop in the ocean of illegal small arms held by Ukrainians. According to a conservative estimate by OSCE experts, about 3 million units of weapons are stored in the country without being registered (the maximum estimate is much higher – up to 5 million units – Ed.).So, in Ukraine, several million armed people are outside any state registration systems. Moreover, the weapons they possess are not hunting rifles. More often than not, people have unregistered automatic combat weapons.Read about the advantages of declaring such weapons in this text by a former grenade launcher of the 29th Separate Rifle Battalion, a correspondent LIGA.net Andriy Zaika.War as a dealer"Having your own 'Ksyukha' that no RAO knows about is every soldier's dream," says Serhiy S., who retired from the Armed Forces in 2025 due to age, half-jokingly. 'Ksyukha' is the colloquial name for the AKS-74U, a shortened assault rifle, and RAO is the service responsible for keeping track of small arms in each military unit. The one that can drive you crazy over minor damage to a 'standard unit'."In three years in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Serhiy S. surpassed his dream – he not only has his "own" AKS-74U with two "plum" colored magazines, but also an old AK-47 from the 1950s. He found this trophy weapon back in 2022 in the tree lines near Kherson. He transported the assault rifles home in parts, sometimes via Nova Poshta. These "guns" left no documentary traces in Ukrainian weapon registration databases.The sites of the maneuvering battles of 2022-2023 – in the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions, in the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kharkiv oblasts – are the main source of small arms, ammunition, and explosives. Most of them remain with the Armed Forces of Ukraine. But hundreds of thousands of "barrels" and grenades are entering civilian life. Sometimes as a souvenir, and sometimes for money.The starting price for an AKS-74 in good condition, with its original factory furniture (the "grand piano" style, meaning a wooden handguard), is $250. A standard AK-74 is easy to find for $150. AKs of the "100 series" are one and a half times more expensive – they are exclusively in service with the Russian army.This "overview" of the market was provided to LIGA.net by the owner of one of Kyiv's gun stores on condition of anonymity. For the official small arms market, "black market guns" are a problem, as their prices are merely symbolic. For comparison: the price of an AKS-74U in an official store is "Warrant Officer" is UAH 175,000 ($4,100).Additionally, the black market is implementing increasingly aggressive "marketing" – when for UAH 820,000 it is possible to to receive Fifty assault rifles, pistols, submachine guns, grenades, and almost three dozen ammunition boxes. "Currently, there is as much weaponry on the black market as there is shoe polish in a shoe polish factory," says Georgiy Uchaykin, chairman of the supervisory board of the Ukrainian Association of Gun Owners.The low prices of regular AKs are not only due to the influx of trophies. The fact is that they were massively distributed to everyone in February 2022. "Within a few days after February 24, 2022, Ukrainians in Kyiv, Dnipro, and Zaporizhzhia received tens of thousands of AKs. This could be up to 80,000 units," says Georgiy Uchaikin.The Ministry of Internal Affairs has no data on these weapons from the beginning of the war. "The Department has no information," was the response LIGA.net received from the Department for Control of Arms Circulation to an official request. The police explain the existence of such a huge "white spot" by the fact that at the beginning of the war, weapons were distributed by representatives of the Ministry of Defense. "Perhaps other structures distributed the weapons then. There is no precise information about this period," is what the police say unofficially.Illegal weapons are not only a problem for Ukraine. According to by research According to the Small Arms Survey, small arms from Ukraine are increasingly ending up in Europe.A ticket to the legal worldIt was under pressure from European structures, including the OSCE, that efforts to bring order to the issue of illegal weapons in Ukraine began in November 2024. That's when the Procedure for Declaring Firearms and Ammunition, approved by Ministry of Internal Affairs Order No. 768, came into effect.Therefore, for those who have trophy weapons in their possession, declaring them offers two advantages.The first is the opportunity to avoid liability for illegal possession of weapons, which carries a sentence of three to seven years of imprisonment, according to Article 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.The second option is to keep the weapon for some time. The captured weapon is not in the Ukrainian databases, so after it is declared, the police must leave the weapon with the declarant until the end of the war (along with the declaration certificate).An important nuance is that the declarant is not the owner of the trophy weapon. According to the law, its owner is the state.Documents for declaring weapons to the National Police1. A copy of an identity document;2. An extract from the register of the territorial community regarding the registered place of residence (stay);3. One photograph measuring 3.5 x 4.5 cm × 4.5 centimeters;4. A copy of the taxpayer's identification number (TIN).It's a different matter if, during the declaration, it turns out that the weapon is from the Armed Forces of Ukraine's stock or was lost by the Defense Forces. Most likely, such weapons will be confiscated. The exception is the same AKs that were distributed in February 2022. They can be kept – also until the end of the war.

"The dream of every first-timer in the army." How to legalize captured weapons in Ukraine

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