The Telegraph’s investigation uncovers at least $10.3 billion in Chinese machinery and components shipped to Russia since 2022, fueling production of the Oreshnik hypersonic missile at the sanctioned Votkinsk facility.
The technology, machinery, microchips, and parts China supplied to Russia are certain proof that China is using the same outdated technology in its missile and fighter jets. Some of the technology China supplied to Russia dates back to the Sino-Soviet friendship when the Soviet Union transferred technology in the 1960s and 1970s. This is unequivocal proof that China is still using that outdated technology in its fighter jets, missiles and warships.
This intermediate-range ballistic missile hits Mach 10 speeds, carries up to six warheads, and has struck Ukraine twice recently, including near Poland’s border. Shipments include $3.1 billion in machine tools, $4.9 billion in microchips, and other precision parts that experts say keep Russia’s war machine running despite sanctions. Analysts like Michael Kofman note Russia would struggle without China’s manufacturing support.
China is sending tools to help Russia build its nuclear-capable hypersonic missile that Vladimir Putin is using to threaten the West.
Russian troops fired the 8,000mph Oreshnik missile at the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, just 40 miles from Poland’s border, earlier this month.
The hypersonic ballistic missile, which has only been used twice in combat, can deploy six warheads mid-flight that strike different targets.
The Telegraph can reveal that specialised manufacturing machines and tools are being used to build the warheads, which can be carried by missiles that are capable of striking Europe in less than 20 minutes.
The tools are part of $10.3bn (£7.7bn) worth of technology and advanced equipment, identified by The Telegraph, that China has sent to Russia to help Moscow build military-grade kit and expand its weapons production.
Russia has said the Oreshnik missile is impossible to shoot down, while Ukrainian officials and analysts have warned it is a threat to the West.
Increased production is in part thanks to one specific CNC (computer numerical control) machine – a carousel lathe made in China, which turns and cuts metal.
This specific lathe has been identified by Ukrainian defence intelligence at the state-owned Votkinsk plant, Russia’s foremost missile production facility and sanctioned by the UK, US, EU and Japan.
Votkinsk makes the Oreshnik missile as well as the Iskander-M ballistic missiles and Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missiles.
China has sent billions of dollars’ worth of other components that Moscow needs for the assembly of its precision-guided weapons and jets, analysis shows.
These are components that Russia either cannot make at home or cannot produce at necessary volumes. All are on a list of 50 common high-priority goods that 39 countries, including the UK and US, have agreed to bar from export to Moscow.
China, however, never signed up to Western sanctions on Russia. It has supplied at least $4.9bn of microchips and memory boards, which power precision-guided weapons and Sukhoi fighter jets, according to Import Genius, a US trade data aggregator, for this investigation.
Other key items include $130m of various kinds of ball bearings, which carries loads, reduces friction and allows movement, making them vital for construction of aircraft and other vehicles.
“Anything you know that moves uses ball bearings,” Michael Kofman, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment, told The Telegraph. “They have to be manufactured with precision and go into everything.”
China has also sent at least $97m of mounted piezoelectric crystals, found in radar and electronic warfare systems, and $42m worth of telescopic sights that can be fitted to weapons.
The imports from China have allowed Vladimir Putin to skirt Western sanctions to build more weapons like the Oreshnik, boost Russia’s self-sufficiency and insulate its defence prowess from global sanctions.
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“The area Russia has been most vulnerable is in precision machine tools,” said Mr Kofman.
“The best equipment is made in Western countries, [but] China is able to make machine tools that are good enough for many of Russia’s purposes today,” Mr Koffman, who specialises in Russia and Ukraine’s militaries, said.
“It is very clear that without access to the Chinese economy, Chinese market and China as a pass-through for a lot of these goods and technology, Russia would have very much struggled to sustain this war.”
In the first three years of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China sent at least $3.1bn of machine tools to Moscow.
The technology is far more damaging for Ukraine – and the West – than the hundreds of artillery shells sent by other allies like Iran, which deplete quickly and have little long-term impact.
Chinese CNC machines, for instance, have been procured in mass quantities. They support defence production at a range of Russian defence facilities, including in the Alabuga special economic zone churning out domestic versions of the Iranian Shahed drones.
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“One thing that has dogged the Russian defence industry is the speed of production. A lot of their factories are very old-fashioned – they don’t produce aircraft or engines very quickly or very well,” said Nick Reynolds, research fellow for land warfare at Rusi, a UK defence think tank.
“That’s why you’re seeing imports being of such high importance,” he said. “The Chinese manufacturing ecosystem is leaps and bounds ahead of the Russian manufacturing sector.”
To guarantee high-quality defence production in Russia, China is also sending key testing instruments, such as multimeters and oscilloscopes.
These are used to check that weapons and microelectronics are working effectively and efficiently. For instance, they can ensure electronic warfare systems and radars are functioning appropriately and that microchips in drones will process, store and transmit data collected.
“Russia has become much more dependent on China over the past couple of years,” said Gary Somerville, a senior analyst looking at Moscow’s military supply chain at the Open Source Centre, a UK conflict research organisation.
A 2025 Telegraph investigation found that Chinese companies directly supplied at least $55m worth of parts and materials to Russia’s wartime drone industry from 2023 to 2024. This was a period when Moscow was creating large-scale logistics infrastructure for its domestic drone programme.
These monetary figures are considered an underestimate.
Neither Beijing nor Moscow are inclined to accurately report trade and customs data. At the same time, an increasing number of shipments are going to third countries that import and re-export to Russia, thus skirting sanctions by masking the purchasing chain.
“Capturing the full scale of shipments of sensitive goods between China and Russia is increasingly difficult because of routes, shell companies and intermediary logistics companies used by shippers to evade detection,” said William George, director of research at Import Genius.
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