Ukraine accuses China of supplying Russian arms industry

Kyiv’s intelligence chief ‘confirms’ that China is directly aiding Russia’s arms industry.

Ukraine has data that confirms China is supplying Russia’s arms industry, according to the head of Kyiv’s foreign intelligence service.

Oleh Ivashchenko said in an interview published by the Ukrinform news agency on Monday that Ukraine can “confirm” that China is providing important materials and equipment to 20 Russian military factories.

Beijing has regularly denied accusations from Kyiv that it is aiding Moscow’s war against its neighbour.

Last month, Ukraine accused China of direct military assistance to Russia’s arms industry. Ivashchenko said that the country’s intelligence agency can now confirm those reports.

“There is information that China supplies tooling machines, special chemical products, gunpowder, and components specifically to defence manufacturing industries,” he said. “We have confirmed data on 20 Russian factories.”

‘Groundless’

Although China has sought to project an image of neutrality and denies any involvement in the war, it has increased trade and economic cooperation with Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Meanwhile, Western countries have imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow.

Ukraine has regularly suggested China is supporting the war, and has said that Beijing has sent soldiers to fight alongside Russian forces.

Last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made his first public accusation that China is supplying gunpowder and materials to Russia’s arms manufacturers, while also accusing Chinese citizens of helping in the production of drones.

China rejected the claim as “groundless,” but Kyiv has since imposed sanctions on three Chinese entities.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused China of supporting Russia’s war [File: AP]

Ivashchenko said that Ukrainian intelligence had information on at least five cases of Russian-Chinese cooperation in the aviation sector between 2024 and 2025, including the transfer of equipment, spare parts and technical documentation.

He added that there were six cases involving “large shipments” of specialty chemicals, but did not provide further details.

“As of early 2025, 80 percent of critical electronic components found in Russian drones originated in China,” Ivashchenko added.

“At the same time, there are facts of product substitutions, deceptive product names; there are shell companies through which everything necessary for the production of microelectronics is supplied.”

The comments came as Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia had launched a record number of drones against Ukraine overnight on Sunday.

Russian forces deployed 298 drones and 69 missiles, according to the report, but the Air Force said it was able to down 266 drones and 45 missiles.

Al Jazeera was not able to independently verify the figures. Ukraine said that the attack was the largest of the war in terms of weapons fired.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies