New York Times: China has become the biggest obstacle to Ukraine in the drone war that it wages against Russia

The New York Times highlighted the obstacles that China places in the face of Ukrainian forces that are using its consumer drones and turning them into weapons in their battle against the invading Russian forces.

According to New York Times, soldiers in the Ukrainian army were assigned the task of converting Chinese aircraft used by amateurs into combat weapons, and highlights the case of a soldier in the 92nd Mechanical Brigade who connected a modified battery to a quadcopter so that it could fly further, and then the operators placed a homemade shell in it to hit trenches and Russian tanks, which turns Chinese drones into human-guided missiles.

But the supplies are about to end, with complications on the Chinese side.

The New York Times says that the fighting in Ukraine, more than any conflict in human history, is a war of drones, and this means increasing reliance on the suppliers of these drones, specifically China.

Russia has recently reported an increase in drone attacks launched by Ukraine, and the latter confirms that targets inside Russia are part of the conflict.

During the past months, the pace of the “drone war” between Russia and Ukraine has escalated.

While Iran and Türkiye produce military drones used in the conflict, the cheap amateur drones that have become ubiquitous on the front line come largely from China.

The New York Times indicates that this gave China hidden influence, and the Ukrainians had to find new ways to maintain their supplies despite the presence of obstacles, as Chinese suppliers reduced their sales, and rules set by Beijing to restrict the export of drone components come into effect as of September 1st.

Chinese companies such as DJI, EHang and Autel produce millions of drones annually for amateur and professional photographers, far outpacing other countries.

DJI, China’s largest drone manufacturer, has more than 90% of the global consumer drone market share, according to research group called DroneAnalyst.

Over the past months, Chinese companies have reduced sales of drones and their components to Ukrainians, according to an analysis by The New York Times.

Chinese companies that are still willing to sell often ask buyers to use complex networks of middlemen, similar to those that Russia has used to circumvent US and European export controls.

Many fear that new rules imposed by China restricting the sale of drone components could exacerbate the Ukrainian military’s supply chain problems as winter approaches.

These obstacles give Russia an advantage, and the total value of Chinese drone shipments to Ukraine was about $200,000 as of June this year, according to trade data.

In the same period, Russia received packages worth about $14.5 million.