Ukraine’s drone producers warn of Chinese dependence for components

Europe and Ukraine’s dependence on China for the production of drones poses a huge risk, a Ukrainian military official and drone producers warned.

The war in Ukraine has fundamentally changed modern warfare with more than 95% of frontline casualties in the Ukraine war now attributed to drones. While these are fairly cheap to produce, they rely heavily on supplies from third countries, which could cut off exports at any moment.

“There is a huge problem with security of supply for key components” for drones, a representative for Ukrainian drone manufacturer Skyfall, said at the EU-Ukraine Business Summit on Wednesday.

Currently, Ukrainian drone manufacturers rely primarily on Chinese imports for lithium batteries, magnets for motors, and fibre optic cables.

Mykola Stavytskyi, a commander of a Ukrainian drone battalion, said Kyiv would like to buy these components from Europe but is not able to.

“And (if) tomorrow, Eastern countries don’t want to sell us their fibre optic…