Next week, the parliament intends to consider bill No. 9538, which has been informally called the legalization of captured weapons, although the correct title is “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring the Participation of Civilians in the Defense of Ukraine” on Improving the Procedure for Receiving, Declaring, and Handling Firearms.”
On August 15, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the Rada to expedite consideration of this and a number of other bills.
MP Oleksandr Fedienko from the Committee on National Security and Defense explained the essence of the innovation:
A Ukrainian citizen finds, for example, a machine gun. He is obliged to call 102 or 112 and report it. Within 24 hours, he must either hand it over to the police or declare it in his name; a by-law with a mechanism will be developed.
The weapons and ammunition found and declared could be used by civilians to fight back against the Russians.
Weapons of caliber 12.7 (carved) and 23 (smooth) are not subject to declaration. Also, any weapons already registered with the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations are not subject to declaration.
After 90 days from the date of termination/cancellation of martial law, the citizen is obliged to surrender the weapon to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
If a citizen intends to own this weapon and has legal grounds for doing so, he writes an application to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
At the expense of a citizen, a declared firearm that cannot be owned by an individual is converted into a type of firearm that may be owned by an individual in accordance with current legislation, or is converted into a model.
Source: Racurs

I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.