National Police Has 150 Functional Electronic Bracelets throughout Ukraine

Of the 300 electronic bracelets that are currently on the balance sheet of the National Police, only 150 are functional.  

According to the data provided by the National Police in response to a request by TI Ukraine, there is an acute shortage of electronic bracelets in Ukraine to monitor suspects and accused persons.  

Currently, the National Police has only 150 functional devices for the whole country, of which 20 are in Kyiv. Overall, the National Police has 300 such devices, but 121 electronic bracelets are currently defective or being repaired, and 29 bracelets have been lost (including due to hostilities). 

The lack of electronic means of tracking also affects the NABU’s activities. For example, the investigating judge decided to take the bracelet off Artur Samiliak, former department head of a city council in the Zakarpattia region. All because, despite the previous decision of the judge, Samiliak was never made to wear the bracelet because there were no free bracelets. So the judge decided that there was no point in continuing to assign such an obligation to him. By the way, MP Andrii Odarchenko, accused of attempted bribery, fled to Romania in August 2024 and asked for asylum there.  

In total, since the beginning of 2024, the High Anti-Corruption Court has issued 168 decisions on interim measures, of which almost half concerned the obligation to wear an electronic bracelet. That is, the enforcement of the HACC decisions in 2024 alone would require about 80–90 bracelets.  

The last time the National Police purchased such devices was in December 2019. The body’s fleet of vehicles, on the other hand, is updated regularly; only in the past six months, the service center of the National Police of Ukraine purchased 30 cars with a total value of almost UAH 43 million.