Zelenskiy says Ukraine has evidence that China provides artillery troops to Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday that intelligence from Kiev (Reuters) indicated that China was providing artillery and gunpowder to Russia.

“We believe that the Chinese representative is producing some weapons on Russian territory,” he said at a press conference in Kiev. Zelenskiy did not specify whether he refers to an artillery system or shells.

The allegation could subvert relations between Kiev and Beijing, where Ukraine openly occupy Chinese nationals to fight for Russia. So far, China has tried to maintain a neutral view of the three-year war of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine has previously called on China to use its influence on Russia to push it toward peace.

“We have learned a little about this work of China and Russia to enhance their defensive capabilities,” Zelenskiy said, frustrated, saying Chinese President Xi Jinping had assured him that Beijing would not sell or provide weapons to Moscow.

(Reported by Anastasiia Malenko; Writing by Max Hunder; Editing by Jane Merriman and Mark Heinrich)