Ukrainian Interior Minister Reveals Number of Unregistered Weapons Held by the Population

Ukrainians possess between 2 to 5 million unregistered weapons, stated Igor Klimenko, the head of the country’s Ministry of Internal Affairs.

"We do not know how many weapons we have in our hands: one million, two, from one million to five million. Let's take an average: about 3 million," he said in an interview with Ukrainian journalist Natalia Moseychuk.

The Minister clarified that the figures refer to weapons distributed to Ukrainians after February 2022, as well as weapons brought from the combat zone. He added that a bill is currently being prepared, which stipulates that weapons in the possession of the population must be surrendered or legalized 90 days after the state of martial law is lifted.

According to Klimenko, the purpose of the bill is to prevent unregistered weapons from entering criminal circles. Meanwhile, the head of the Ministry acknowledged that the country has recently seen an increase in crime rates, particularly related to firearms. He indicated that these incidents are expected to rise even further.