Beijing-backed firms 'sent £165m of drone parts and weapons to Russia'

Beijing-backed firms ‘sent £165m of drone parts and weapons to Russia in two months that is being used to maim and kill Ukranian civilians and soldiers’

• Orlan drones sold have been used to fire more than 40,000 rounds of shells

China is suspected of supplying Russia with weaponry and ammunition that is being used to maim and kill Ukrainian civilians and soldiers, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

A classified Ukrainian military intelligence document leaked to the MoS claims that Chinese companies supplied Russia with weapons parts to the value of £165 million in just January and February this year. More have arrived since.

State-owned companies run by the Chinese Communist Party are accused of sending components for Russian drones called Orlan, which have been used to fire more than 40,000 rounds of shells, and kill up to 100 Ukrainian soldiers per day.

Last night, Vladyslav Vlasiuk, who advises President Volodymyr Zelensky, said: ‘Our armed forces are finding Chinese-made components and microelectronics in the weapons used by the Russian aggressor. 

‘We have also found Chinese components in the dangerous mortar shells that rain down indiscriminately on Ukrainian civilians. 

China is suspected of supplying Russia with weaponry and ammunition that is being used to maim and kill Ukrainian civilians and soldiers, Pictured: A Russian soldier carries an Orlan aerial drone in eastern Ukraine

An aerial view of damaged sites from eastern Ukraine city of Severodonetsk last year

READ MORE: Pro-Putin Russian war reporter is killed by ‘US-made cluster munitions’ in occupied Ukraine, claims Kremlin 

‘This week, their air strikes even struck the Chinese consulate in Odessa [in southern Ukraine], which is further proof that the aggressor does not care what horrors it inflicts on whom.’

Western weapons firms stopped trading with Russia because of US, British and EU sanctions. Mr Vlasiuk said: ‘No country should trade military-grade components with Russia as it kills innocent children and commits war crimes against the Ukrainian people.’

At least nine Chinese companies have been sanctioned by Ukraine after its military found their component parts in missiles, drones and tanks used by the Russian military. 

Chinese-made rifles and ammunition, as well as tank parts, have also been found in the battlefields of Ukraine, having been used by Russian troops. 

Mr Vlasiuk named China North Industries Group (Norinco), a state-owned weapons maker, and Xinxing Guangzhou Import & Export Co as two firms that have supplied weapons components to Russia.

He also named two other Chinese firms – Beijing Huanuo Exiang (Rex) Trading Company Limited and Silverron International Pte Limited – as major military hardware suppliers to the Russians. 

All four companies were on Ukraine’s sanction list, while Norinco also featured on the US sanctions database. 

Pictured: The Orlan-10 drone, a reconnaissance, unmanned aerial vehicle

Ukrainian investigators found navigation systems built inside the Russian Orlan drones have been supplied by a Chinese company.

The drones are manufactured by St Petersburg-based company Special Technology Centre, which bought components from Hong Kong-based firm Asia Pacific Links Limited. 

In April, China’s foreign minister, Qin Gang, said his government will not sell any weapons to either side of the conflict.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: ‘Any support for Putin’s brutal and illegal war against Ukraine is deplorable. China’s failure to condemn the invasion is deeply harmful to its interests and reputation in Europe.’

The Chinese embassy in London could not be contacted.

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