China blocks Ukraine’s last drone supply route after flooding Russia with the same parts

China now blocks NATO allies from supplying Ukraine with drone components, closing workarounds Kyiv used to sustain its drone warfare against Russia, according to German news outlet ntv.

The country’s drone industry depends on Chinese engines, batteries, and flight controllers for roughly 60% of components—and Beijing just cut off the Baltic and Polish supply routes that provided them.

Yurii Lomikovskyi, co-founder of the defense industry network Iron, told ntv on 28 October that Beijing began prohibiting sales to Baltic states and Poland after determining these countries funnel components to Ukraine.

Ukrainian forces use these drones to hit Russian logistics hubs and ammunition depots hundreds of kilometers inside Russian territory—operations that place Moscow “under pressure not only militarily, but above all socially, economically and politically,” according to military analyst Hendrik Remmel from the German Institute for Defence and Strategic Studies.

Chinese contradictions

The restrictions align with Beijing’s strategic calculus, which it revealed to EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas in July. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told her then that China could not afford a Russian defeat because the United States would then shift its full attention to Beijing.

In August alone, Russia received 328,000 miles of fiber-optic cable from China while Ukraine received just 72 miles, The Washington Post reported in October.

By early 2025, 80% of electronics in Russian drones came from Chinese sources, according to NATO’s assessment. Austrian military analyst Markus Reisner identified Chinese Telefly turbojet engines in Russia’s new glide bombs, which can strike targets from 200 kilometers away.

Lomikovskyi sees the solution in accelerated European investment in local production capacity. “Why do we source so much from China? Because China can deliver at scale—and cheaper than anything we produce locally or can buy from our Western partners,” he said.