China profits from both sides in Ukraine war
Chinese companies sell machines, electronics and parts and components to Russian arms manufacturers. They make bombs and missiles that destroy Ukrainian power stations and electricity networks.
Plunged into darkness, Ukrainians rush out to buy storage batteries, solar panels and camping and communications equipment – also made in China.
As a result, China was last year the number one trading partner of both Russia and Ukraine. According to Chinese figures, bilateral trade with Russia last year was US$228.11 billion, a small decline from the 2024 figure and the third successive year above US$200 billion.
According to Ukrainian figures, imports from China last year were US$19.2 billion, more than double the amount from Poland and Germany, the second and third suppliers of imports.
The Russian attacks on the power system have been especially vicious since November and the start of the bitter winter.
Alex Cheong, CEO of the Chinese office of Meet China, a logistics firm that specialises in sending household goods to Ukraine, said: “We see a spike in demand for solar panels and batters because electricity is in very short supply, especially for the last two months.
“We sent a full container of power banks by sea in October. The moment it arrived, it sold out because of the instability of the power supply,” he said. Last September a maker of solar panels in Shandong set up a branch in Ukraine to better serve customers there.
Other imports from China are machinery, technology, medicines, home and gardening equipment such as camping lights. These imports help Ukrainians survive the terrible winter, danger and power cuts – contrary to Putin’s aim to drive them to despair and surrender.
In 2025, Ukraine ran an overall trade deficit of US$44.5 billion, with imports of US$84.8 billion and exports of US$40.3 billion.
The success of Chinese firms is the more remarkable because of the bias of their government toward Russia, President Xi Jinping has refused to condemn the invasion, to pressure Vladimir Putin to make concessions or play an active role in negotiations. With Donald Trump, he is the only world leader with leverage over Putin.
Before the invasion, Kyiv and Beijing enjoyed good relations. It recognised Ukraine’s independence on December 27, 1991 and established formal diplomatic relations the next month.
In 1998, Ukraine sold the unfinished Varyag aircraft carrier to a private Chinese buyer. It became Liaoning, China’s first aircraft carrier and a milestone on the modernisation of the PLA.
By the early 2000s, bilateral trade exceeded US$500 million each year, driven by Ukrainian exports of metallurgy and aerospace. In 2013, the two countries signed a Treaty of Friendship and Co-operation. After Russia invaded in 2014, Beijing did not recognise Crimea or Donbass as Russian.
In 2013, Ukraine began selling corn to China. By 2019, it had become its largest supplier, accounting for more than 80 per cent of China’s corn imports. In 2013, Xinjiang Construction and Production Corps signed an agreement with Ukraine's KSG Agro to lease 100,000 hectares of agricultural land for cultivation and pig farming over a 50-year period.
This expansion of trade suited both sides. Ukraine is one of the world’s biggest agricultural producers. With a population around 40 million, is the most significant republic carved out of the former Soviet Union, after Russia.
When Xi Jinping launched the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, Ukraine acquired new importance as a transit hub and market for Chinese goods. In 2018, a BRI trade and investment centre opened in Kyiv. COFCO, China's state-owned agribusiness giant, invested US$50 million in Mariupol – a city reduced to rubble by Russian bombing – including the COSCO investment -- and now occupied by Russia.
Chinese companies were also involved in projects to dredge the Ukrainian ports of Yuzhny, north of Odesa, and Chernomorsk, south of Odesa. Before the war, Chengxin Lithium applied for exploration rights to lithium deposits in Ukraine.
But, after the invasion in 2022, political relations cooled. A Western diplomat said that, for Xi, politics and ideology counted for more than economics.
“China’s long-term economic interests lie with the western world, Japan and South Korea, not with Russia, a minor economy,” he said. “But, in Xi’s view of the world, Putin is his most important ally.”
Despite this and the many dangers of doing business in Ukraine, Chinese firms have won the top place – a tribute to their resilience and determination and keeping their eye on money, not politics.
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