Ukraine’s National Police has named US actor Steven Seagal as a recipient of trophy weapons from eastern Ukraine, alongside a list of Russian propagandists, in a statement announcing a major arms smuggling case on Tuesday, April 28.
Seagal received Russian citizenship in 2016, joined a pro-Kremlin political party in 2021, and visited occupied Ukraine in August 2022.
The National Police, in its Tuesday press release, claimed Seagal is among those who received the trophy weapons from the leader of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), a Moscow-backed proxy state in occupied Ukraine.
“Kim Jong Un, Bashar Hafez al-Assad, Dmitry Medvedev, Sergey Sobyanin, Sergey Lavrov, Ramzan Kadyrov, Steven Seagal, Yulia Chicherina, Vladimir Solovyov, Alexander Sidyakin and Vladimir Saldo – these are the individuals who received ‘prize’ weapons from the leader of the so-called ‘DPR’ Denis Pushilin,” the press release says, listing dictators and key Russian propagandists.
The police then outlined its investigation and said the weapons either came from “stolen” arms in occupied Ukraine or were illegally imported from Slovakia.
Converting Glock pistols smuggled from Slovakia
The police said it identified the smuggling network from Slovakia in January, where Glock pistols chambered for Flaubert munitions were imported and later converted to fire standard calibers.
“They were later sold to criminals, transferred to illegal armed groups, and also used as a tool to ‘encourage’ individuals who do not have the legal right to possess combat weapons,” the press release says.
The agency said the group’s operations and routes were identified in January, when some suspects were arrested in Poland in collaboration with Polish authorities.
“As a result of cooperation with Polish law enforcement agencies, some of the suspects – citizens of Ukraine – were detained at the Polish border while attempting to illegally import weapons into the territory of this state. The weapons were seized, and the indictments were sent to a court in Poland,” it adds.
Hidden caches of heavy arms across Ukraine
The police said the majority of heavy arms destined for occupied territories were found in multiple Ukrainian regions during a subsequent operation in April.
“In April of this year, police officers, together with the Military Counterintelligence Department of the Security Service of Ukraine [SBU], conducted the second stage of the special operation ‘Black Sleeve,’” the press release says.
“More than 30 simultaneous searches in Kyiv, the Kyiv region, Zakarpattia and Sumy regions. Their results confirmed the scale of illegal arms flows directed to the temporarily occupied territories,” it adds.
During the operation, the police said the authorities seized over 90 firearms, including assault rifles, machine guns, pistols and submachine guns, sniper rifles, at least seven grenade launchers and anti-tank weapons, dozens of grenades, detonators and fuses, TM-62M anti-tank mines, 30mm artillery ammunition, as well as a “Tiger” light armored vehicle.
In addition, over 35,000 rounds of ammunition of various calibers, more than 150 grenade launcher rounds, jet engines for them, warheads, smoke bombs, and other explosive elements were seized.
The police added that the weapons were stored in “garages, residential buildings and vehicles,” as well as “equipped caches on the ground.”
The police did not specify the origin of these weapons but said it is working with international law enforcement agencies to identify the extent of the network.
Debates on gun control
Authorities have uncovered illicit arms smuggling networks in the past, particularly concerning trophy weapons recovered from the front.
The EU has rejected claims of large-scale arms smuggling from Ukraine in 2023, while Kyiv Post established that there is no evidence that trophy weapons in Ukraine have made their way to armed Mexican cartels, a claim made by US propagandist Tucker Carlson in 2025.
However, recent shootings have also renewed debates over gun control in Ukrainian society.
On April 18, a shooter gunned down passersby in a supermarket in Kyiv, killing seven and injuring over a dozen. The incident was followed by a series of non-fatal shootings registered across Ukraine, including one involving a Flaubert revolver in western Ukraine’s Lviv, one using an unspecified firearm in Ivano Frankivsk, and another involving a drunk man firing into the air near Kyiv.
The recent incidents – potentially receiving more attention due to the Kyiv shooting and by no means an indicator of heightened activity – involved both registered and unregistered firearms, leading to discussions on whether existing gun laws should be tightened or eased.
Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office, has opposed further easing of current legislation and suggested gaps in the system.
“This has never worked and will not work now… There are always two sides – an imagined sense of protection, and a real increase in incidents like those we have seen in recent days,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the Kyiv Security Forum, days after the Kyiv shooting.