A Large scale smuggling of weapons was detected in the area of anti-terrorist operation (ATO) in the Donbas region, which gets organized in some cases. RBC reports this, citing Reuters.
As noted, this situation started due to the prosperity of the "black arm market" of the separatists from 2014. There are also a lot of illegal weapons on the territory controlled by Ukraine because the irregular units often do not lead properly the accounting of the weapons.
One of the gunmen told that the supply of weapons across the border in Russia has been and is continuing now.
"AK-47 is the most popular", reads the report.
The official information is fragmented, but the available data indicates that the problem is getting worse. With reference to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Reuters notes that since the beginning of 2016 there were twice as many weapon related crimes committed in the country than last year.