Russian Drone Documents Draw Line From China to Ukraine’s Skies

Soon after President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale war on Ukraine, a little-known Russian company thousands of miles away hatched a plan to partner with Chinese firms and solve one of the most urgent challenges faced by the invading army — the need for combat drones that were radically reshaping the battlefield.

Documents reviewed by Bloomberg — including memos from the company, Aero-HIT, as well as correspondence with Russian government officials — offer unprecedented insight into how Moscow capitalized on its friendly ties with Beijing to skirt Western sanctions and acquire the know-how and capability to build drones to attack Ukraine. They lay out in detail a previously unreported case study of Russian-Chinese corporate collaboration on defense technology.

Taken together, the documents show how sensitive technologies can move from China to Russia even if President Xi Jinping's government says it's not supplying either side.

Aero-HIT, which has received Russian state funding, claims its production plant close to the airport in the far eastern city of Khabarovsk will have the capacity to turn out as many as 10,000 drones per month this year and it’s planning to expand production further into more advanced models. It has grown rapidly into one of Russia’s main drone suppliers for military operations in Kherson, the partly occupied region of Ukraine that Putin insists must be handed over fully to Moscow’s control as part of any deal to end the war.

Its products include the Veles, a First-Person View (FPV) drone that allows pilots to monitor the battlefield in real time via a screen or virtual-reality goggles linked to the quadcopter’s camera. FPV drones have become a crucial weapon for both sides in the war, and multiple reports suggest Russia has deployed them to deliberately target and hunt down civilians in Kherson city that Ukraine successfully retook in late 2022.

FPV drones can cost anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand dollars, depending on their configuration. One order for 100 Veles models was priced at 8 million rubles, or about $1,000 per drone, according to a purchase order in March reviewed by Bloomberg.

Last June, the US Treasury sanctioned Aero-HIT, stating that the Veles drones it makes “have been used by Russian forces based in Kherson against Ukrainian targets.”

Aero-HIT didn’t reply to a request for comment and a detailed set of questions.

The documents, which date from late 2022 through to June 2025, show the extent to which Moscow goes to mask its suppliers and deliver equipment to its military, often by using intermediaries that operate in other sectors like airline catering, agricultural supplies and seafood transportation services.

In a letter dated June 16 this year, Aero-HIT wrote to the head of the department of interdisciplinary research and special projects at Moscow’s Ministry of Defense requesting financial support to expand its output by localizing the production of the Autel EVO Max 4T drone.

Autel Robotics is one of China’s major manufacturers of drones and drone parts. It denies supplying or having any business relationships with Russian firms as of February 2022.

The letter, which contains financial plans for what would be a 7.1 billion ruble ($90 million) investment and a schedule of proposed deliverables over 28 months, states that the Russian company has been cooperating with Autel engineers since early 2023. The relationship between the two firms was briefly interrupted due to sanctions, but contacts with Autel personnel were re-established around the end of 2024 and the parties have been negotiating localizing production for the drone since May 2025, the letter states.

The proposal says the Autel EVO Max 4T was originally designed for civilian use but has proven highly effective in combat due to several key advantages such as a radio module resistant to electronic warfare. The sale price would be 650,000 rubles apiece, VAT included, and the plan foresees making as many as 30,000 units per year, according to details outlined in the proposal.

By localizing production of that model, Aero-HIT says it would be able to bolster high-tech drone manufacturing in Russia and gain the transfer of technologies and know-how, including firmware, debugging, production, and repair. Crucially, the project would integrate the drones with domestic IT systems and adapt them to frontline needs.

It is unclear from the correspondence whether Autel, which was sanctioned by the UK in November for making available goods and technologies that undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty, is aware of the project or if the relationship is with individual company employees or re-sellers of Autel’s technologies. The company has also been blacklisted by the US Defense Department for its alleged ties to the Chinese military.

The Russian Ministry of Defense didn’t reply to a request for comment.

Autel Robotics said in an emailed statement that it has never engaged in any form of cooperation with a Russian company called Aero-HIT, nor is the firm aware of any local production arrangements involving Aero-HIT or the Autel EVO Max 4T drone. The company said it completely terminated all business relationships and transactions involving Russia as of February 2022, ceased all direct and indirect sales to Russian entities and put in place rigorous internal compliance policies.

Autel issued a statement in January rejecting US claims of its links to the Chinese military. “As a high-tech enterprise specializing in civil drones, Autel Robotics is not a defense contractor, nor a supplier to the military, and does not possess any military qualifications,” it said.

Beijing has repeatedly said it controls exports of so-called dual use goods like drones that can be used for military purposes, and that it has never provided either side with lethal weapons. It is unclear from the documents whether the government in Beijing is aware of the extent to which some Chinese companies continue to work with Russian firms.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs didn’t reply to a request for a comment.

As Beijing tightened trade restrictions on exporting drones, some Chinese companies balked at working on the Russian project and walked away from their contracts, but others stepped in to take their place, the documents show.

Drones have increasingly become a critical weapon to both Ukraine and Russia as the war approaches the 3 1/2 year mark. Russia has significantly increased its attacks on Ukrainian cities recently, at times sending barrages of almost 500 drones in a single night, resulting in rising civilian casualties.

Ukraine estimates Russia is preparing to produce between 300 to 350 long-range drones a day and wants to raise output to 500 a day, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in late May. That same month he told a group of reporters that China had stopped selling drones to Ukraine but continued shipments to Russia.

The origins of Aero-HIT and its relationship with suppliers in China date back to the second half of 2022 — and has been crucial to Russia’s ability to manufacture Veles drones at scale, the documents show.

In the fall of 2022, discussions began between a Russian company called Komax, representatives of the Harbin Comprehensive Bonded Zone in China, and Khabarovsk Airport — which lies around 20 miles from the Chinese border — to build a warehouse with special tax and customs arrangements to facilitate imports, as well as establish the production of drones using Chinese parts and technologies nearby.

Russia’s business registry shows Komax is owned by an individual named Konstantin Basyuk. He is a former KGB operative, according to Russian media reports, and since 2022 a senator for Russian-occupied Kherson. Basyuk was sanctioned by the European Union in 2023. Komax also manages Khabarovsk airport.

The types of drones the parties aimed to produce would have resembled those of Chinese manufacturers Autel and SZ DJI Technology Co. Ltd., known as DJI, the document shows. The Russian Ministry of Defense and other government agencies were identified as potential key customers.

Basyuk didn’t reply to a request for comment about Komax and Khabarovsk airport. The Harbin Comprehensive Bonded Zone didn’t respond to a request for comment enquiring about discussions with the Russian firms.

The relationship stepped up when, between April 28 and May 3, 2023, a Russian delegation traveled to China to meet with representatives of the Harbin Comprehensive Bonded Zone and companies linked to the Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), one of China’s top engineering universities and particularly prestigious in the fields of astronautics and defense-related technologies.

HIT’s relations with the Chinese military have drawn US concerns about its role in developing cutting-edge weapons for the People’s Liberation Army, leading to the university being sanctioned by the US Department of Commerce in 2020. HIT has long-standing ties with Russia; Putin visited the school during his state visit to China in May 2024. HIT didn’t reply to a request for comment.

The parties agreed to set up a joint venture in Khabarovsk and that a sample of 100 drone kits would be delivered to Russia. During the same trip, the Russian delegation also visited the headquarters of Autel Robotics and a drone factory in Shenzhen, according to a Russian memo.

Later that month, on May 22, Russian and Chinese representatives of the joint venture met with Putin’s special envoy for the Far East, Yury Trutnev, on the sidelines of the China-Russia Business Forum in Shanghai. Trutnev recognized the project as a priority and promised to help it receive permits from Russia’s customs service to allow for tax-free imports, another memo indicates. A readout on the website of the Russian government confirms that Trutnev met with Chinese executives “to discuss the development of cooperation between Russia and China in the Russian Far East.”

Trutnev didn’t reply to a request for comment.

Shortly after that meeting, Aero-HIT was registered in Khabarovsk and the Russian government asked to receive weekly updates on the project, the memo shows. A European government official familiar with the matter said the firm’s name is a combination of the Russian word “aero” — as in English — and the abbreviation for the Harbin Institute of Technology.

According to Russian company records, the firm is controlled by Komax.

The relationship ran into a few bumps in June 2023 when Harbin companies walked away from negotiations. But a private firm, Shenzhen Huasheng Industry Co. Ltd, stepped in and signed a contract the following month that closely echoed the previous agreement the Russian side was pursuing.

Shenzhen Huasheng Industry was sanctioned by the US last year for contracting with Aero-HIT to supply the Russian company with drone parts. The Chinese firm company didn’t reply to a request for comment.

The procurement channel faced another setback in September 2023 when China’s Ministry of Commerce introduced new restrictions on the export of drones and drone-related equipment, which led to some of the contracts that had been signed — with about 65 million rubles paid up front — being scrapped.

But by then the Khabarovsk production line of Veles drones was up and running, producing about 200-300 drones per month and rising rapidly.

In January 2024, Aero-HIT presented its business at a Kremlin event for small and medium enterprises in Khabarovsk organized as part of Russia’s presidential election campaign that was taking place at the time. Ahead of the event, the company sent the Kremlin an overview of its plans to produce drones for military purposes under the name Veles and pitched for support. The pitch made no mention of Chinese involvement and it is not known whether that support was received.

However, other documents indicate that the company has business ties with the Russian Defense Ministry and military — and its product, packed with Chinese components, was making its way onto the battlefield to be deployed against Ukraine.

In late March 2024, 20 drones and batteries were delivered to a battalion in Kherson via a company that according to Russia’s business register normally operates in real estate, seafood wholesale and freight transportation. On Aug. 29 that year, the defense ministry sent a letter to Aero-HIT with plans to order 5,000 FPV Veles drones, 30 directional antenna and other kit. Bloomberg was unable to confirm whether the purchase went ahead.

Another document suggests that it is likely that by this stage Aero-HIT was procuring Autel parts and components from China via intermediaries. One such company named in one of the documents is Renovatsio-Invest, a firm sanctioned by the US in June 2024 for procuring Chinese-manufactured drones on behalf of Aero-HIT.

Multiple calls to a phone number belonging to Renovatsio-Invest went unanswered. Bloomberg was unable to find other contact details for the company.

In March, the commander of a military unit in Pskov, a city in northwestern Russia, sent a letter to a firm called Aeromar-DV asking for assistance with the purchase of 100 Veles drones. The letter states that the request was backed by the Ministry of Defense and the drones were needed to “perform special tasks in the special military operation zone.”

A payment order confirms that Aeromar-DV, a company that provides food and catering services to Russian airlines including state carrier Aeroflot, intended to purchase 100 Veles drones from Aero-HIT for some 8 million rubles.

Aeromar-DV didn’t reply to a request for comment.

Bloomberg is unable to confirm whether the drones were delivered to the 76th Guards Air Assault Division in Pskov, but Veles drones — easy to produce at scale as long as Chinese components remain available — continue to rain down on Ukraine’s cities each day.