Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused China of supplying weapons to Russia, including gunpowder and artillery.
Speaking on April 17, Zelenskyy also claimed that Chinese representatives were actively involved in weapons production within Russian territory.
He cited a report from Ukraine’s security and intelligence services as the source of these allegations.
“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,” Zelensky said.
He added that Ukraine believed “Chinese representatives are engaged in the production of some weapons on the territory of Russia”.
Zelensky did not go into detail on that, indicating more elements of the report would be revealed in the next few days.
“It’s not that we’re surprised, but we really didn’t want to see the facts that we witnessed and that I witnessed,” he said.
Earlier, China’s President Xi Jinping had told Zelensky that Beijing did not help the Russian war effort.
China has always maintained it was neutral and supported peace in the region, something many in the West have doubted.
“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,” Zelensky said.
“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.”
On April 18, China’s foreign ministry dismissed the claims as “groundless”, Reuters reported.
Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian rejected the claims at a news conference, saying China had never made lethal weapons available to any party in the war.
“China’s position on the Ukrainian issue has always been clear,” Lin said. “It has been actively committed to promoting a ceasefire and ending the conflict, as well as encouraging peace talks.”
China opposed groundless accusations and political manipulation, he said, adding that Ukraine had said publicly that most of the components in weapons imported by Russia came from the US and other Western nations.
Earlier in April, Zelensky disclosed that Ukrainian forces had captured two Chinese nationals fighting for Russia. More recently, he claimed that a total of 155 Chinese citizens were serving in the Russian military.
That came as US Foreign Secretary Marco Rubio indicated his country was tired of the peace talks’ lack of progress, saying the US was “ready to move on” and there were “other priorities” in the world.
We are happy to announce the signing, with our American partners, of a Memorandum of Intent, which paves the way for an Economic Partnership Agreement and the establishment of the Investment Fund for the Reconstruction of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/AQsHPkWh5X
— Yulia Svyrydenko (@Svyrydenko_Y) April 17, 2025
Zelensky also accused US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff of “spreading Russian narratives” about the war in Ukraine after Witkoff told Fox News that a deal to end the conflict was “about these so-called five territories”.
Those appeared to be Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in Ukraine, which Moscow claimed belonged to Russia.
In today's early morning hours, Russians targeted a densely populated residential area of Kharkiv with 3 ballistic missiles loaded with cluster munitions.
As of now, there are already 57 victims, several children – rescue efforts are ongoing.
This was after a night of strikes… pic.twitter.com/Ol3nkDX3LC
— Yulia Svyrydenko (@Svyrydenko_Y) April 18, 2025
