Ukrainian officials say Russia is quickly closing the gap in drone warfare, citing the Kremlin’s deeper pockets, safer production hubs far from the front, and covert support from the Chinese.

Russia has ramped up drone production significantly, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, according to Politico, claiming it now manufactures 300 long-range drones a day—triple Ukraine’s output.

Moscow is pushing to hit 500 per day. These gains, officials warn, are partly driven by Chinese-made components.

“Chinese manufacturers provide them with hardware, electronics, navigation, optical and telemetry systems, engines, microcircuits, processor modules, antenna field systems, control boards, navigation,” said Oleh Aleksandrov, spokesperson for Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service. “They use so-called shell companies, change names, do everything to avoid being subject to export control and avoid sanctions for their activities,” he added. “Yet officially, China sticks to all the rules. Yet only officially.”

Beijing has denied any involvement, calling the allegations “baseless accusations and political manipulation.” Ukrainian intelligence says Russia now depends heavily on Chinese spare parts for its drone fleets.

Ukraine had once led the drone war, producing one million tactical drones in 2024 and aiming for 2.5 million in 2025. Russia, however, is catching up fast. Aleksandrov said Moscow built more than 30,000 long-range drones this year and plans to make 2 million small FPV drones by next year.

“In this war of drones, only the most dynamic side will win,” said Andriy, a Ukrainian army drone commander.

Ukraine also says Chinese-made DJI Mavic drones, widely used in battle, are now largely off-limits to them. “The Chinese Mavic is open to the Russians, and it is closed to the Ukrainians,” Zelensky said.

Meanwhile, Russia is improving its own drone defenses.

“Russians are scaling up not only the production of drones but also the means of radio electronic warfare,” Andriy said. Only about 20 percent of state-supplied drones are usable due to frequency changes on the battlefield, he added