Ukraine Says It Can Confirm Beijing Is Arming Russia; Analysts Say Pressure Now Falls on US and EU
Udumbara
Ukraine on Monday laid out what it calls “confirmed” intelligence that China is quietly sustaining Russia’s war effort.
Oleh Ivashchenko, head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service, told state news agency Ukrinform on May 26 that China is supplying machine tools, specialty chemicals, gunpowder, and drone electronics to at least 20 Russian arms factories.
He said Ukrainian intelligence has logged at least five cases of aviation-related cooperation between Russia and China between 2024 and 2025, including the transfer of equipment, spare parts, and technical documentation, adding that there were also six large shipments of specialized chemicals.
Analysts say the latest disclosure moves beyond broad accusations, challenges China’s claim of neutrality, and aims to force a harder line from both Washington and Europe.
In early 2025, Ivashchenko said 80 percent of the critical electronics in Russian drones came from China, and some components were funneled through shell companies and false labels to avoid scrutiny.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy first raised the alarm in April, accusing Beijing of sending artillery shells and gunpowder to Russia despite Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s earlier promise to him that China would not supply weapons to Russia.
Strategic Costs for Beijing
Cheng Chin-mo, a diplomacy professor at Taiwan’s Tamkang University, told The Epoch Times that Kyiv’s latest intelligence release seeks two ripple effects.First, it undercuts Beijing’s attempt to court Europe while it wages a tariff fight with Washington, because supporting Moscow “only deepens European distrust.” Second, it reminds Washington that punishing Russia alone will not force peace as long as Moscow can “draw on Chinese resources.”
By spotlighting Chinese involvement, “Ukraine is telling the West that this war is really Russia and the Chinese regime fighting together,” Cheng said.
Zhong Zhidong, a researcher at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said China’s war support to Russia is “increasingly blatant” and expanding in both scope and volume.
In exchange, Beijing gains access to some of Russia’s advanced technology, cheap hydrocarbons, and a partner that helps counter U.S. power, Zhong told The Epoch Times.
Western sanctions have already led Russia to turn to Chinese machinery, electronics, and banking networks, while surging Chinese purchases of discounted Russian oil and gas keep Moscow’s war budget afloat.
Strategically, Zhong added, by supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine, China helps ensure that the United States and its European allies must devote significant military, financial, and diplomatic resources to the European theater and dilute U.S. pressure on China in the Indo-Pacific.
Those incentives are “too great” for Beijing to abandon, he said; even as the threat of tougher Western sanctions grows, China will likely keep routing the trade through shell companies and indirect channels.
Echoes in Washington and Brussels
U.S. and European officials have backed Kyiv’s findings.During a Brussels visit on May 29, 2024, then-U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said Chinese backing for Russia “is not a one-off” and enjoys top-level approval in Beijing.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce called the reports “disturbing” at an April 8 briefing, adding that China supplies nearly 80 percent of the dual-use items sustaining Russia’s war.
The EU adopted its 17th sanctions package on May 20, targeting third-country enablers and entities outside Russia, including those in China, Turkey, the UAE, and others.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said on the same day that “an 18th package is being prepared with further hard-hitting sanctions.”
