A Chinese state-owned company supplied Russia with materials to build hundreds of kamikaze drones.
The parts were sent to a firm linked to Russia’s largest energy producer, which builds the Geran drones used to attack a shopping mall in central Ukraine in August, killing at least 16 people.
The disguised transfer of the components is detailed in internal Russian documents, reviewed by The Telegraph in a joint investigation with Politico.
The documents show for the first time how a Chinese government firm exported crucial drone-making components directly to Russia.
The revelations pose major questions for Russia, China and the Trump administration.
Donald Trump’s peace envoys arrived in Kyiv on Sunday after thanking Vladimir Putin for “incredible memories” in a Moscow meeting on Saturday.
Mr Trump is due to host Xi Jinping later this month following threats to tighten sanctions on China.
Washington has repeatedly accused Beijing of providing dual-use items – materials usable in both civilian and defence manufacturing – that go directly to the Russian military.
The scale of the shipments and the military importance of the Russian company receiving them, however, suggest Chinese officials were either turning a blind eye to that assistance or were actively facilitating it, said multiple US weapons experts, former intelligence officials and diplomats.
The shipping and customs documents reveal the Chinese firm disguised the shipment of 46 tons of carbon fibre chemicals to a subsidiary of Russia’s Rosatom earlier this year.
