The issue of civilian arms circulation in Ukraine has long been a subject of public debate, but much less attention is paid to the weapons that legislators themselves own. An analysis of the declarations of people’s deputies of the current convocation of the Verkhovna Rada shows that among parliamentarians, firearm owners make up a small part of the deputy corps, although the total number of declared units is estimated at hundreds.
The largest weapon collections among deputies
According to the analysis of the declarations, journalists identified 15 people’s deputies of the ninth convocation who declared firearms. In total, they indicated more than 340 units, but most of this figure is formed by large private collections.
The leader in the number of declared weapons was Nestor Shufrych from the deputy group “Platform for Life and Peace”. His declaration listed 156 weapons.
Almost the same result is achieved by the deputy of the group “Restore Ukraine” Oleksandr Feldman, who declared 157 units. His property includes not only a collection of firearms. The declaration also lists numerous collections of historical cold weapons, including swords, sabers, daggers, bows, crossbows and armor from various historical periods and regions of the world.
Third place is taken by the deputy from “Batkivshchyna” Andriy Puziychuk, who declared 12 weapons. His collection includes hunting rifles from several well-known manufacturers, three Blaser R8 carbines of different calibers, a Marlin XT22 semi-automatic rifle and a Soviet TOZ 34ER rifle.
The deputy from the “Fatherland” Mykhailo Tsymbalyuk declared 8 weapons. Among them is the award-winning “Fort-12” pistol and seven hunting rifles of various brands.
The top five deputies with the largest arsenals is closed by the representative of the “Servant of the People” Ihor Marchuk. His declaration lists four weapons, including premium-class carbines and fittings.
What weapons do other parliamentarians declare
Among the deputies with smaller arsenals, there are both hunting models and modern rifled weapons.
Serhiy Lyovochkin declared two pistols and a hunting rifle. Oleksandr Dubinsky’s declaration lists three hunting weapons, including the Austrian Steyr AUG A3 and the Swiss Brugger & Thomet TS 9 TP.
Roman Ivanisov owns a Browning semi-automatic carbine and a Swarovski optical sight. Oleg Meydych declared a Daniel Defense DDM4 V7 PRO carbine and an additional upper receiver for it.
Among the owners of modern high-precision weapons also appear Serhiy Minko, Mykhailo Kryachko, Andriy Kit, Mykola Lyushnyak and Oleksandr Kovalchuk. Mykhailo Sokolov indicated an award pistol in the declaration.
In general, the owners of declared weapons are represented in most parliamentary factions and deputy groups. At the same time, journalists did not find such declarations among the deputies of “European Solidarity”, “Voice” and the group “For the Future”.
However, the presence or absence of weapons in the declaration does not always reflect the real state of affairs. Ukrainian legislation allows not to declare certain types of award weapons received as a state decoration.
For this reason, some parliamentarians may own firearms that are not reflected in electronic declarations. This practice has already attracted the attention of journalists during the analysis of the previous convocation of the Verkhovna Rada, where dozens of deputies had award weapons that were not declared.
What state institutions responded
To find out the scale of awarding deputies with firearms, journalists asked a number of state bodies, including the Office of the President, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Security Service of Ukraine, the State Security Service, and other departments. Most institutions refused to disclose the relevant information or reported that such data belonged to the closed category.
The Office of the President reported that from the beginning of 2019 to May 2026, nine people were awarded the “Personal Firearm” award. There are no current people’s deputies among them.
At the same time, there are deputies who were awarded weapons by presidents of previous terms. Among them are Serhiy Vlasenko, Mykola Kniazhytskyi, and Olena Kondratyuk.
The Ministry of Defense reported that over more than seven years, almost 17.4 thousand people have been awarded the Firearms award. The largest number of such awards fell on the period after the start of the full-scale war.
Among the awardees is former People’s Deputy of the ninth convocation Mykhailo Zabrodsky, who received the departmental award in May 2022.
The State Service for Special Communications also provided its own statistics. According to the department, from February 2022 to May 2026, 1,085 people were awarded the award weapon.
As for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the response to the request stated that the accounting of those awarded firearms is currently not being conducted.
Discussion on weapons goes beyond parliament
Amid the discussion of deputy arsenals in Ukraine, the discussion on the regulation of civilian circulation of weapons continues. Experts draw attention to the fact that the country still does not have a separate law that would comprehensively define the rules for the acquisition, storage and use of firearms.
This issue became particularly acute after the tragedy that occurred on April 18, 2026 in one of the Kyiv supermarkets, where a man armed with a carbine opened fire. Six people died then, at least ten more were injured.
The Verkhovna Rada supported the draft law “On the Right to Civilian Firearms” in the first reading on February 23, 2022. After that, the document was never submitted for a second reading, so the issue of legislative regulation of the circulation of weapons remains open.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs is working on a draft law that should simplify the procedure for obtaining weapons by civilians. This is how the Ministry of Internal Affairs reacted to the terrorist attack in Kyiv, where an armed attacker opened fire on people, and patrol officers left the scene.
At the same time, many experts doubt that the Verkhovna Rada will support such an initiative. There are serious reservations among parliamentarians. One of the main fears is that weapons may end up in the hands of people with post-traumatic stress disorder after what they experienced at the front.
