China produces and tests deadly attack drones for Russia

Chinese and Russian companies are developing a combat drone similar to the Iranian model stationed in Ukraine, European officials familiar with the matter said, a sign that Beijing could be moving closer to providing the kind of lethal assistance that Western officials have warned about.

The companies held talks about collaborating on replicating Iran’s Shahed drone in 2023 and began developing and testing a version this year in preparation for shipping to Russia, said the officials, who requested anonymity to discuss private information. The Chinese drones have not yet been deployed in Ukraine, they said.

Supplying Russia with a Shahed-like combat drone would mark an intensification of Beijing’s support for Russia, despite repeated warnings from the United States and its allies. President Xi Jinping has sought to portray China as neutral in the conflict in Ukraine, although Western officials say it has supplied President Vladimir Putin’s forces with components and other support.

At the same time, US officials have said that China is holding back on direct supplies of weapons and artillery. This would be a sign of unprecedented escalation and would almost certainly lead to tougher measures – such as sanctions – against the world’s second-largest economy.

Some countries believe that supplying drones to Russia for attack purposes would cross the line into lethal aid, two of the officials said. A person familiar with the matter said the U.S. believes China is considering supplying fully built unmanned aerial vehicles, but in the meantime is sending kits that can be converted into attack drones. The U.S. is still not concluding that China is supplying lethal aid to Russia, the person said, but acknowledged that other countries may interpret it differently.

China does not supply weapons to the parties in the Ukraine conflict and strictly controls the export of dual-use goods, Liu Pengyu, spokesman for the Chinese embassy in the United States, said in a statement.

“In the Ukraine crisis, it is perfectly clear to the international community who is calling for dialogue and striving for peace and who is fuelling the fight and inciting confrontation,” Liu said. “We call on the countries concerned to immediately stop fuelling the fight and inciting confrontation.”

Read more about the Shahed drone: How and why Russia uses Iranian drones in Ukraine: QuickTake

The Russian Defense and Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Russia has deployed thousands of Shahed drones against Ukraine since the war began and has even built a factory to mass produce the technology developed in Iran, which is relatively cheap to produce but costly to defend.

However, Russia still relies on supplies from countries such as North Korea and Iran, and on China for key parts and components. One concern is that China could produce a drone similar to the Shahed on a far larger scale than Iran or Russia, the officials said.

Officials did not identify the drone under development, but Chinese defense websites and several media outlets reported that the country is working on a kamikaze attack drone called the Sunflower 200, which is similar in appearance to Iran’s Shahed 136 drone.

Bloomberg News reported in April that China supplies Russia with satellite imagery for military purposes, microelectronics and machine tools for tanks, as well as a range of technologies used in weapons or needed to make them.

“China is making every effort and every opportunity to argue that it is a neutral actor in this war in Ukraine, but in reality the PRC is supplying a long list of dual-use components, things like machine tools and microelectronics, that are enabling Russia to wage this war of aggression in Ukraine,” U.S. Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith told Bloomberg Television on Tuesday, referring to China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.

“Here within NATO, we are making sure that we can expose the fact that the PRC is no longer a neutral actor, and we are warning China of the risk of aligning itself with Russia in this unprovoked war of aggression,” she said.

Back in May, British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps sparked a row with Washington when he suggested that China was working to supply Russia with lethal weapons. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the US had not yet observed any direct arms deliveries from China to Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at the G-7 summit that President Xi Jinping had given him his word that he would not supply Russia with weapons.

With support from Andrea Palasciano and Kriti Gupta.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications.