Ukraine’s intelligence chief confirms that 20 Russian military facilities receive Chinese supplies

The head of Ukrainian foreign intelligence was cited on Monday as saying that Ukraine has verified evidence that China is providing a number of critical products to Russian military facilities.

Oleh Ivashchenko told the state news outlet Ukrinform, “There is information that China supplies tooling machines, special chemical products, gunpowder, and components specifically to defense manufacturing industries.”

“We have confirmed data on 20 Russian factories,” he stated.

The Chinese foreign ministry has been contacted by Reuters for comment.

Since Moscow pushed tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, which led to Western sanctions on the Russian economy, China, the second-largest economy in the world, has developed even tighter trade and other economic ties with Russia.

For the first time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy publicly accused Beijing of providing Moscow with direct military support last month when he claimed that China was providing Russia with weapons and gunpowder.

Kyiv placed penalties on three Chinese companies, but China rejected the charge as “groundless.”

Ivashchenko added that at least five instances of Russian-Chinese cooperation in the aviation industry in 2024–2025, including the provision of equipment, spare parts, and paperwork, were also known to Ukrainian intelligence.

Without going into specifics, he noted that there were six instances of “large shipments” of specialty chemicals.