Volunteer formations in Kyiv Oblast armed with over 8,000 weapons

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, volunteer formations in Kyiv Oblast were given more than 16,000 weapons; as of May, 8,200 weapons have been assigned to the volunteers.

Source: Chief of the Main Department of the National Police in Kyiv Oblast Andrii Niebytov, in an interview with Ukrinform

Quote from Niebytov: "With the beginning of the armed aggression by the Russian Federation, 82 voluntary formations in territorial hromadas were formed within Kyiv Oblast. [Hromada is an administrative unit designating a town, village or several villages and their adjacent territories – ed.] At that time, when both we and the National Police helped arm people to repel the Russian offensive, and almost 25,000 members of these VFTCs [voluntary formations of territorial communities] had 16,347 weapons on their hands. 

From 1 April of last year, we started optimising."

Details: He added that currently, according to the respective decisions of the military, only 62 of the 82 voluntary formations of territorial communities remain (but they are being reformed), and 16,000 of the 25,000 volunteers remain.

Niebytov emphasised that such a number of volunteers in Kyiv Oblast is sufficient for carrying out combat missions, guarding facilities, and carrying out joint service with law enforcement agencies.

He said that these 16,000 volunteers have 8,245 weapons left.

Quote from Niebytov: "All weapons issued to people are accounted for in the Arsenal subsystem of the National Police of Ukraine. They are stored in appropriate rooms. There are 97 rooms for storing weapons within our territorial communities. All of them are equipped with appropriate alarms, and members of the VFTC receive weapons only when performing official duties".

Details: He also added that the police monitor the illegal arms trade. In just 4 months of this year, law enforcement officers seized 38 assault rifles, 15 grenade launchers and rocket launchers, 26 homemade weapons, 286 grenades, more than 22,000 rounds of ammunition and 130 kilograms of explosives from illegal circulation.

In the current year, 81 criminal proceedings have been registered in relation to this issue. Last year, during the same period, only 37 proceedings were registered. Based on this fact, 76 persons were issued with notices of suspicion, and precautionary measures have been taken against them.

At the same time, Niebytov noted that there are no mass cases of the illegal use of weapons that were issued to people at the beginning of the full-scale war. Such cases were occurring only immediately after the liberation of Kyiv Oblast. However, the offenders were promptly brought to justice, and their weapons were confiscated.

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