China responds to allegations of their ammunition used by Russia in Ukraine

"There was indeed ammunition with Chinese and North Korean characters, but that was not the main issue," Kostenko explained.

He noted that Chinese representatives were queried about the source of this ammunition. "The question was posed to the representatives of China: where does it originate?"

The response from China was vague. "We export to half the world. There are end-users, and there are those who resell these weapons. We don’t know how it ended up in Russia—whether they purchased it in Africa, Europe, or North Korea," they stated.

Kostenko acknowledged the complexity of tracing the ammunition's journey. "It's quite difficult to prove, but we know that such ammunition was and is present on the battlefield," the Ukrainian MP added.

Chinese munitions in Ukraine and China's denial that it is helping Russia

In March 2023, Japanese newspaper Kyodo, citing sources in the US government, reported that the US believes that Russia is using Chinese ammunition in the war against Ukraine. At the time, Chinese Foreign Ministry stated that Beijing did not send ammunition to Russia. NATO did not confirm this either.

In March 2023, representative of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, Andriy Yusov, said that Ukrainian intelligence could not confirm that China supplied weapons to Russia.

In April 2023, The Washington Post reported that China approved provision of lethal military assistance to Russia in early 2023. According to the WP, information was obtained through wiretaps by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service. The document, citing intelligence, reports that, according to the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, China has "approved the supply" of weapons to Russia under the guise of civilian goods. The source of the information is not named.

British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps on May 22 accused China of providing or preparing to provide Russia with "lethal assistance" for use in the war against Ukraine.

The official said at a conference in London that US and British defense intelligence have evidence that "lethal assistance is now or will be coming from China to Russia and Ukraine."

Chinese Foreign Ministry denied Shapps' statement in response on May 23.

"We condemn British politician's baseless and irresponsible vilification of China," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.

We have noted the fact that these remarks by the British side were not even supported by its 'close ally'.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on June 18 said in an interview that China should be held accountable for supporting Russia's war against Ukraine. In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry called on NATO to "stop passing the buck".