Chinese drone manufacturers played a key role in Russia’s war against Ukraine, – Bloomberg

Despite China’s denials of supplying weapons to Russia, the documents show a different picture.

After Russian dictator Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a little-known Russian company thousands of miles from the front lines has developed a plan to work with Chinese firms to solve one of the most pressing problems: the need for combat drones that would radically change the situation on the battlefield, Bloomberg reports , citing Aero-HIT documents and correspondence with Russian government officials.

The documents, the journalists said, show how Russia has used its close ties with Beijing to circumvent Western sanctions and acquire capabilities to build drones for attacks on Ukraine. Overall, the documents show how technology can flow from China to Russia, even as President Xi Jinping’s government denies supplying arms to either side.

“Aero-HIT, which has received Russian state funding, says its factory near the airport in the far eastern city of Khabarovsk will have the capacity to produce up to 10,000 drones a month this year and plans to expand production with more advanced models. The company has quickly become one of the main suppliers of drones for military operations in the Kherson region, a partially occupied region of Ukraine that Putin believes should be fully transferred to Moscow’s control as part of any agreement to end the war,” the report says.

It is noted that among the company’s products is the Veles drone with first-person view (FPV) mode, thanks to which pilots can monitor the battlefield in real time through a screen or virtual reality glasses.

According to purchase documents in March, one order for such drones cost 8 million rubles, or about $1,000 per drone.

However, in June 2024, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Aero-HIT, stressing that Veles drones were “used by Russian troops stationed in the Kherson region against Ukrainian targets.”

At the same time, this did not stop Russia, so it began to look for ways to circumvent these sanctions. In particular, one of the largest Chinese manufacturers of drones and their components, Autel Robotics, denies supplying products or having any relations with Russian companies, but documents obtained by Bloomberg journalists showed the opposite.

“Relations between the two companies were briefly interrupted due to sanctions, but contacts with Autel personnel were restored around the end of 2024, and since May 2025 the parties have been negotiating the localization of drone production,” the letter says.

In turn, Autel Robotics stated that it had never collaborated with the Russian company Aero-HIT and was not aware of any agreements regarding local production involving Aero-HIT or the Autel EVO Max 4T drone.

“The company stated that, as of February 2022, it has completely ceased all business relationships and transactions with Russia, ceased all direct and indirect sales to Russian entities, and implemented strict internal compliance policies,” the material added.

Autel also rejected US accusations of ties to the Chinese army.

“As a high-tech enterprise specializing in civilian drones, Autel Robotics is not a defense contractor, is not a supplier to the military, and does not have any military qualifications,” the statement said.

In turn, the documents indicate that the history of Aero-HIT and its relationships with suppliers in China begins in the second half of 2022, making it crucial to Russia’s ability to produce Veles drones in large volumes.

In addition, other documents indicate that Aero-HIT has business ties with the Russian Ministry of Defense and the military, and its products, which are filled with Chinese components, were used on the front against Ukraine.

“Another document indicates that at this stage Aero-HIT was likely purchasing Autel parts and components in China through intermediaries. One such company mentioned in one of the documents is Renovatsio-Invest, which was subject to US sanctions in June 2024 for purchasing Chinese-made drones on behalf of Aero-HIT,” the material says.

(c)UNIAN 2025