Ukraine security services (UCC) have accused a priest of using mission trips to traffic weapons into the country.

The priest was arrested several months ago in north-western Ukraine for selling weaponry, including a grenade launcher, hand grenades and 800 grams of dynamite according to an announcement made by the UCC on Tuesday.

Investigators said the priest allegedly carried out a string of preaching mission trips to conflict areas where he is suspected to have traded arms.

The unnamed man, who has a number of previous convictions for illegal arms dealing, faces up to seven years in prison.

The country has seen a rise in the illegal trafficking of weaponry since unrest broke out between the Ukraine government and pro-Russian rebels in 2014.  

Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, a move which was met with harsh economic sanctions by western countries.

Some 13,000 people have been killed, and as many as 30,000 wounded as a result of the fighting, according to the United Nations.