KIEV, Nov. 7 - Ukraine ranks the world's 84th by the number of arms owners and 3 million pieces of armaments are owned here illegally, the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda in Ukraine said on Monday with reference to the Small Arms Survey - a project monitoring firearms in 178 states.

Ukrainians "own about 800,000 rifles and smooth-barrel guns, 169,000 rubber bullet weapons and 107,000 pneumatic weapons of 5.5 millimeters and more," the Interior Ministry's arms license department head, Valentyn Medved, told the newspaper. "The number of arms owners reduced by 17,000-19,000 over the past few years. Few people can afford to buy a gun, it costs too much."