China plans to start large-scale production attack drones for the russian army with a view to its possible use in Ukraine, stated the German weekly Der Spiegel this Friday.
Chinese drone maker Xi’an Bingo Intelligent Aviation Technology and Russian military officials held negotiations In this regard, the newspaper indicates without citing sources, the day the Asian giant called for a ceasefire but continues without condemning the invasion.
Bingo would have been willing to produce at first 100 drones of the ZT-180 typetest them and deliver them in April to the Russian Defense Ministry.
This model is similar to that of the Shahed 136 made in Iranaccording to military experts consulted by the magazine, and can carry an explosive charge from 35 to 50 kilograms.
In a second phase, Bingo, controlled by the Chinese military, would propose to transfer components and technical skills to Russia so that Moscow can manufacture drones locally, he says. Der Spiegel.
This would allow you to produce autonomously up to 100 such devices per monthcalculate.
Contacted by the German weekly, the Chinese Foreign Ministry denied the supply of arms to Russia but did not respond to the specific allegation about the drones.
The United States this week accused Beijing of considering arming Russia in the war against Ukraine. China has so far not condemned the invasion and remained neutral in Thursday’s UN General Assembly vote in which a resolution called for a Russian withdrawal.
“China and Russia maintain normal cooperation and exchanges in the bilateral economic and trade field, and the development trend is solid. China and Russia maintain close communication at multiple levels to promote the development of bilateral relations and contribute to the maintenance of world peace and development,” Wang Wenbin, a Chinese foreign spokesman, said on Friday.
The illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine marks one year this Friday, in which the former Soviet republic put up fierce resistance to Russian troops and, with Western backing, inflicted unexpected setbacks on Vladimir Putin’s forces.
The Russians entered the Ukraine on February 24, 2022starting the worst conflict on European soil since the end of World War II.
Twelve months later, numerous Ukrainian cities were left in ruins, a part of the country lives under Russian occupation and the death and wounded balance on each side exceeds 150,000according to Western estimates.
During this Friday, ceremonies will be held in cities symbolic of the suffering of war, such as buchaon the outskirts of kyivtheater of a massacre of civilians imputed to the Russian forces.
(With information from AFP)
Keep reading:
China maintains its alliance with Putin: it issued a 12-point document on the invasion of Ukraine without condemning it
The United States announced a new military aid package for Ukraine for USD 2,000 million one year after the Russian invasion
The UN General Assembly passed a resolution demanding the “immediate withdrawal” of Russian troops
Infobae in Ukraine: how is the day to day of a key artillery line in the defense of Bakhmut
Source-www.infobae.com