December 25, 2025 - Ranking Member Shaheen, Senators Tillis, Rosen, Barrasso, Coons, King, Moran, Merkley, Van Hollen Statement on Russia’s Christmas Bombing of Ukraine
"Trump Administration Updates: Zelensky Says He Will Meet President This Weekend "Putin increasingly belligerent as truce talks flounder, Ukraine war rages "West is ‘missing obscure sanctions that could set back Russia’s war machine’ "Flaws in Putin’s Art of No-Deal for Peace Become Apparent"" [...]Dekleptocracy found that one Chinese company, Xinxiang Richful, now satisfies a large part of Russia’s demand, supplying up to 8m kg a month. Richful recently set up an office in Virginia. Blocking it, as well as a few smaller suppliers, would create a mechanical lubricant shortage in Russia, the group says. Xinxiang Richful did not respond to a request for comment. DeKleptocracy also found that Russia has little domestic capability to make vulcanisation accelerants and other substances needed to produce military-grade tyres.""
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Thom Tillis (R-NC), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), John Barrasso (R-WY), Chris Coons (D-DE), Angus King (I-ME), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) released the statement below on Russia’s killing of civilians as Christians around the world celebrate the Christmas holiday.
“We condemn Russia’s brutal attacks on Kherson, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Sumy, Donetsk and Kryvyi Rih waged on innocent Ukrainians as they convened to mark the birth of the Prince of Peace with their loved ones and in prayer.
“It bears repeating that President Zelenskyy agreed to a Christmas truce, but Putin declined, yet he directs soldiers to continue to commit brutal crimes of aggression on one of Christianity’s holiest days.
“Even for countries at war, there is a long history of Christmas ceasefires, including notably during World War I. Today’s decision by Putin to launch attacks rather than hold fire is a sobering reminder for us all: Putin is a ruthless murderer who has no interest in peace and cannot be trusted.
“We stand with the people of Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Kherson and Donetsk marking the birth of Christ under the most challenging of circumstances. Ukrainians’ faith is a stronger force than the evil unleashed today by the Kremlin.”
China has become the most important enabler of Russia’s war machine
Trump Administration Updates: Zelensky Says He Will Meet President This Weekend "Putin increasingly belligerent as truce talks flounder, Ukraine war rages "West is ‘missing obscure sanctions that could set back Russia’s war machine’ "Flaws in Putin’s Art of No-Deal for Peace Become Apparent"" [...]Dekleptocracy found that one Chinese company, Xinxiang Richful, now satisfies a large part of Russia’s demand, supplying up to 8m kg a month. Richful recently set up an office in Virginia. Blocking it, as well as a few smaller suppliers, would create a mechanical lubricant shortage in Russia, the group says. Xinxiang Richful did not respond to a request for comment. DeKleptocracy also found that Russia has little domestic capability to make vulcanisation accelerants and other substances needed to produce military-grade tyres."
Related: Exclusive: The Russian billionaires whose chemical factories fuel Russia's war machine By Stephen Grey, John Shiffman and Grant Smith December 30, 20248:48 PM GMT+11Updated December 30, 2024 [...]Reuters identified five chemical companies, in which five Western-sanctioned billionaires hold stakes, that provided more than 75% of the key chemicals shipped by rail to some of Russia's largest explosives factories from the start of the war until September this year, according to the railway data. P - The billionaires include Roman Abramovich, former owner of Chelsea Football Club, and Vagit Alekperov, who was ranked by Forbes in April as Russia's richest man with a fortune estimated at $28.6 billion. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-billionaires-whose-chemical-factories-fuel-russias-war-machine-2024-12-30/
It has crossed the line into providing lethal aid
Photograph: Getty Images
Jun 19th 2025
THE DRONES fly thick and fast towards Kyiv these days. Almost 500 were fired in a recent Russian attack on Ukraine’s capital, in the early hours of June 10th. Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, fears that at current rates of production Russia may soon be able to launch raids that involve twice the number of machines. To pick through the debris and peer inside those weapons is to come face to face with a grim reality. China is the most important—perhaps decisive—enabler of Russia’s war machine.
Chart: The Economist
Consider the Shahed, an Iranian-designed attack drone which is now mass-produced inside Russia (the wreckage of one is pictured, in Kyiv). Such drones were once stuffed with American microelectronics, smuggled in via Asia to circumvent sanctions. The newest ones, however, are filled with Chinese parts. Those used this year have antennae made in China, according to HUR, Ukraine’s military-intelligence agency. One example contained only two American components, out of 15.
[ Insert: Confirmed! Ukraine’s Flamingo Missile Has a Devastating 1-Ton Warhead. A Flamingo packs 10 times as much firepower as Ukraine’s main strike drones. [...] Ukrainian Strikes on Russian Shahed Drone Sites Cut Attacks by a Third Between July and August, Ukraine’s military and security services hit multiple Russian facilities involved in making drones, cutting Shahed launches to 4,132 in August – compared to 6,303 in July. by Alisa Orlova | Sept. 1, 2025, 5:00 pm https://www.kyivpost.com/post/59272 https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=176654814]
That reflects a broader trend. Since the start of the war in 2022, China has trodden carefully in providing military aid to Russia. It has turned down some Russian requests for assistance and equipment, according to Ukrainian and European officials. It has avoided large-scale transfers of finished ammunition or lethal aid that might provoke American or European sanctions; it does not want the international opprobrium that would come if too many of its arms show up on the battlefield. But there are indications that China has walked right up to that line—and perhaps crossed it.
Western officials tell The Economist that China has been providing various forms of support to Russia since 2023, including critical components of weaponry and civilian drones. Much of that is publicly documented in analysis of weapons debris, through open-source tracking of shipments and in cases of American sanctions against Chinese companies. But, importantly, these officials also point to “small quantities of artillery ammunition and military UAVs” (drones).
Up to now there has been little public evidence of artillery ammunition changing hands. In early 2023 China considered sending Russia a batch of 122mm and 152mm shells, but there is no sign it did so on a large scale. Later that year Ukrainian troops found Chinese-made mortar shells near Melitopol, in southern Ukraine. It is not clear whether such transfers were made directly from China, or indirectly from third countries, where Chinese small arms and ammunition are ubiquitous.
The situation with military drones is more troubling. Last year Reuters, a news agency, reported that AO IEMZ Kupol, part of a Russian state-owned arms company, had developed and flight-tested a new drone model, the Garpiya-3—essentially a knock-off of the Iranian-designed Shahed—in China, with the help of Chinese firms. In October America’s Treasury Department put sanctions on two Chinese companies involved, one of which had provided the drone’s engine.
In May 2024 Sir Grant Shapps, who was then Britain’s defence secretary, declassified intelligence on the drone in order to expose such co-operation. “We knew exactly where it was,” he says. Some European intelligence officials say they have yet to see evidence of Chinese lethal aid. But there is no doubt that the Garpiya-3 was a lethal system, not a dual-use aircraft, says Sir Grant.
In practice, Chinese arms are far less vital to Russia than Chinese components and tools. In a recent briefing to a small group of journalists, including The Economist, Mr Zelensky alleged that “Chinese representatives” were present at production facilities in Russia. A European defence official confirms this, adding that China is keen to test the performance of its material on a live battlefield.
[LOL, as would every other war enabling outfit worldwide.]
Since the start of the war, both sides have made wide use of relatively quotidian made-in-China products, not least civilian drones (which help spot targets, among other things). But in September last year China tightened export restrictions on drones and their components. In theory, the new rules cover both Russia and Ukraine. In practice, they are applied selectively. Mr Zelensky says that China has “shut off” the supply of kit such as small quadcopters to Ukraine while keeping the tap open for Russia.
China has also stepped up co-operation with Russia in other ways, says a senior Ukrainian security official—who argues that Chinese leaders may be trying to counter American diplomatic efforts to drive a wedge between Russia and China. This official says that China has helped Russia produce explosives (China dominates the global market for nitrocellulose, a key ingredient) and fibre-optic cabling used in jam-proof wire-guided drones that have become increasingly important on the battlefield.
In late May Oleh Ivashchenko, the head of Ukraine’s foreign-intelligence agency, spoke publicly about China’s supply of tooling machines, chemicals, gunpowder and other inputs that are vital to Russia’s defence industry. The Economic Security Council of Ukraine, a research group, notes that in 2023-24 China became the leading supplier of industrial equipment to Russia, accounting for 80-90% of imported machine tools—many of which were of Western origin.
What does China get in return? Valuable lessons, for a start. Western officials say that Russia and China “continue to explore sharing Western technology captured on the battlefield in Ukraine”. China will want to get its hands on American precision-guided rockets, European cruise missiles and the like. There are also signs of co-operation in areas such as space technology that used to be off the table.
None of this is to suggest that the Sino-Russian relationship is a happy one. Parts of the Russian elite, including people in its security apparatus, worry about their country’s growing reliance on China, as well as about Chinese spying within Russia. For all the talk of friendship, Russia’s security service, the FSB, has been locking up Russian scientists for allegedly disclosing secrets to China. Many of those people appear to have done nothing wrong; their arrests reflect deep-rooted fear and prejudice about China. But without that country’s continuing help, Russia’s defence industry would be crippled. ¦
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