China provides weapons to Russia, Zelensky says

China is supplying weapons to Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on April 17, days after Ukrainian soldiers captured Chinese nationals fighting for Russia's army.

"Today, we have general information from the Security Service (of Ukraine), from intelligence about gunpowder, artillery," Zelensky said during a briefing in Kyiv.

"I think we will be able to say in detail next week that we believe that Chinese representatives are engaged in the production of some weapons on the territory of Russia," he added.

Zelensky's statement marks Kyiv's first confirmation that Beijing supports Russia's war effort by providing weapons. Iran and North Korea are two other allies of Moscow that supply Russia with arms.

Multiple reports have previously suggested that China sends weapons to Russia amid Moscow's all-out war against Ukraine, but Beijing denied this. In the summer of 2024, Zelensky said that China confirmed it wouldn't provide Russia with arms.

Beijing has officially positioned itself as neutral toward Russia's war against Ukraine but has simultaneously deepened economic ties with Moscow and backed Russia against Western sanctions. China has also shaped up to be Russia's leading source of dual-use goods that feed the Russian defense industry.

Earlier this month, two Chinese citizens were captured by Ukrainian soldiers while fighting in the Russian army ranks against Ukraine in Donetsk Oblast. Later, Zelensky said that at least "several hundred" Chinese nationals are fighting on Russia's side in Ukraine.

One of the captured soldiers claimed he had paid 300,000 rubles (roughly $3,500) to a middleman in China to join the Russian military in exchange for the promise of citizenship, the press service of a Ukrainian military unit told the online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda earlier in the day.

Beijing has denied any direct involvement in the war and said it has appealed to its citizens to stay away from armed conflicts.

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The Kyiv IndependentKateryna Denisova