New Report on small arms proliferation in Ukraine

Since the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, vast quantities of small arms, light weapons, and ammunition have been deployed to the front lines, some of which have been lost or abandoned by combatants and subsequently found and stockpiled by civilians over the course of the war. These weapons include military-grade firearms, grenades, and recent-generation portable missiles and rockets—weapons that pose immediate safety threats to the Ukrainian population, and risk affecting national and regional security should they be diverted or trafficked to criminal organizations or violent extremists. 

Weapons Compass: Proliferation and Control of Arms and Ammunition in Wartime Ukraine—a new Report from the Small Arms Survey and the Center for Security Studies ‘CENSS’—provides timely and in-depth analysis on illicit proliferation of arms and ammunition and identifies actionable policy recommendations for the short-, medium-, and long-term future of Ukraine.

This Report was produced in the framework of the project ‘Supporting Ukraine in addressing the risks of small arms and light weapons proliferation from the Russian war of aggression’, funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.

Read: Weapons Compass: Proliferation and Control of Arms and Ammunition in Wartime Ukraine

More from the project: 

• Civilian firearms in Ukraine since the Russian invasion (November 2025): an infographic that presents selected key findings from a population survey conducted in January 2025
• Balancing Control and Awareness: Firearms and Safety in Ukraine (December 2024): a Situation Update that focuses on the impact of war participation on ownership rates, gaps in formal firearm safety training, and the growing public awareness of firearm registration through the use of the Unified Register of Weapons launched in June 2023
• Locked but Loaded: Firearms Possession Dynamics in Ukraine (September 2024): a Situation Update that examines the evolving dynamics of firearms possession in Ukraine
• From Conflict to Consequence: Nearly Half of Ukrainian Men Would Like to Own a Firearm, Or Already Have One (December 2023): a Situation Update that marks the beginning of the Survey’s Situation Update series on arms proliferation in Ukraine and gauges the perceptions of the Ukrainian population regarding firearms
• Find more outputs about Ukraine in our Resource Library

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• New HSBA Situation Update on the rise and fall of Benjamin Bol Mel
• New Report on firearm-related violence and trafficking in the Caribbean
• Joint Release — New Report Calls For Coordinated, Multi-sectoral Action to Tackle Firearm-related Violence and Trafficking in the Caribbean
• New Situation Update on the global authorized trade in small arms
• New podcast on explosive precursor chemicals regulation
• New SANA Briefing Paper on security, ideology, and firearms in Lebanon and Tunisia