Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he has received information that China is supplying weapons to Russia, including gunpowder and artillery.
“We have received information that China is supplying weapons to the Russian Federation. And we are ready to talk about it in detail. Today, we have information from the security service, from intelligence, about gunpowder, artillery.”
The Ukrainian leader did not expand in detail on the extent of Chinese support or the type of weapons being supplied, but says Kyiv will reveal its findings comprehensively next week.
“I think we will be able to talk about this in great detail next week, especially about the data that we believe that Chinese representatives are engaged in the production of some weapons on the territory of Russia,” he said.
Zelenskyy also noted that Kyiv was blindsided by the revelation.
“It’s not that we’re surprised, but we really didn’t want to see the facts that we witnessed and that I witnessed.”
The Ukrainian president said he spoke with China’s President Xi Jinping during the course of the war on his country and asked him directly about China’s supply of weapons to the Kremlin.
Zelenskyy says he was reassured back then that Beijing had no involvement, nor does it intend to sell or supply Moscow with weapons.
“I had a conversation with the Chinese leader during this war. And I asked him a direct question about weapons, and he gave me his word that he would not sell weapons and send them to Russia,” he noted.
“But, unfortunately, we see different information now. In any case, we already have facts about this work of China and Russia to strengthen their defence capabilities. And these are bad facts.”
China has publicly always maintained its neutrality in the Ukraine conflict, but Beijing has provided diplomatic backing and economic support to Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022.
