Ukraine has blasted China for its political and economic support of Russia amid Kyiv’s latest charm offensive at the United Nations.
Vladyslav Vlasiuk, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, accused Beijing of being the main route used by Russia to obtain Western technology.
“If you take all the usual types of weapons and count the foreign-made components – about 60 per cent would be coming from China,” Vlasiuk said during his boss’ ongoing visit to the UN in New York.
Vlasiuk added that his country has had “lengthy discussions with some manufacturers” about the issue of Western tech falling into the hands of the Kremlin, adding that his country had found parts originating from the US, the Netherlands, Japan and Switzerland in Russian missiles and drones.
“The PRC [China] is the biggest problem, I would say,” he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has publicly criticised Polish airport security forces who detained the Ukrainian world heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk https://t.co/DPnqUz2VM2
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) September 18, 2024
Zelensky arrived in New York on September 23 to attend the UN’s General Assembly, on the sidelines of which he has said he hoped to meet with key Western allies to rally support.
He has already held meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz about maintaining support for Ukraine amid the conflict.
“We talked about how to make a just peace closer,” Zelensky said of his meeting with Scholz, adding that the “main thing” would be to “maintain unity”.
He is scheduled to meet with US President Joe Biden in the coming days to present him with Ukraine’s “Victory Plan” for the war with Russia.
Zelensky has also said that a similar meeting could take place with US presidential hopeful Donald Trump, along with senior members of the US House of Congress.
Despite the overtures, relations remain strained between the Ukrainian leader and the Trump camp, with the former accusing Trump’s US Vice President pick JD Vance of being “too radical”.
He also lashed out at the former US president’s stated desire to see the conflict come to an end, arguing that suggestions floated in Trump’s presidential campaign would disproportionately injure Ukraine.
“My feeling is that Trump doesn’t really know how to stop the war, even if he might think he knows how,” Zelensky said in an interview published on September 22.
“With this war, oftentimes, the deeper you look at it, the less you understand. I’ve seen many leaders who were convinced they knew how to end it tomorrow, and as they waded deeper into it, they realized it’s not that simple.”
Trump has countered that Zelensky has been angling for the Democrats to win the US election in November in the hope of securing more funding for his country.
“I think Zelensky is the greatest salesman in history. Every time he comes into the country, he walks away with 60 billion dollars,” Trump said at a recent rally.
“He wants [the Democrats] to win this election so badly, but I would do differently — I will work out peace.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday his country’s assault on Russia’s Kursk region showed that Kremlin threats of retaliation were a bluff. https://t.co/X4YBgGL4eK
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) August 20, 2024
