In a recent editorial by The Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board, entitled “Russian Drone Parts, Made in China,” the editors make the point that “Trump hasn’t been able to stop Xi Jinping’s support for Putin.” The Sept. 1 editorial accuses Trump of not doing enough to limit Chinese purchases of Russian fossil fuels and chides him for failing to take action against “Chinese suppliers [who] provide components and machinery that let Russia produce its own arms.”¹ Even pro-Kremlin Russian media acknowledges that Chinese drones, operated by Russian personnel, have been zipping around the battlefield, snooping on Ukrainian soldiers and dropping bombs on them.² But what the WSJ editorial doesn’t ask is whose war machines are also powered by Chinese drones and components? Who supplies Ukraine’s drones? And, for that matter, who provides the components for America’s own drones? 

If you answered “China” to each of the previous questions, you would be correct. Although Western partners have certainly sent their fair share of domestically produced drones to Ukraine, (Shield AI, AeroVironment and Anduril systems, to name a few), they make up only a sliver of the millions of drones used by Ukraine each year. But while Ukraine’s drone assembly lines may be buzzing, the industry is hardly self-reliant. With only 5% of Ukrainian defense firms reporting they do not use Chinese components in their systems, the vast majority of drones that fill the sky are likely either made in China or contain a number of key components made in China. A more accurate way to describe these so-called “domestically produced” Ukrainian drones, therefore, would be “made in China, assembled in Ukraine.” 

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