Is China arming Russia and building weapons for it? Zelensky's fresh allegations

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed on Thursday (April 17) that China is helping Russia by supplying weapons to Moscow. Zelensky said that Beijing is providing Putin with gunpowder and artillery against Ukraine. He said that Chinese representatives are involved in weapons production on Russian territory. 

The Ukrainian president supported his claims by citing reports from Ukrainian security and intelligence agencies. “We are ready to speak in detail about this,” Zelensky said, saying that he will share documents to support his claims next week. 

“We have finally received information that China is supplying weapons to the Russian Federation. … We believe that Chinese representatives are engaged in the production of some weapons on Russian territory … We see the cooperation between these two countries in this area, and we must acknowledge it is happening," Zelensky said, Associated Press reported, but couldn't confirm the statement. 

Beijing has not responded to the claims but has denied arming Russia previously. 

Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv, Zelensky alleges that Russia had reduced the number of strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities but stepped up attacks on civilian infrastructure instead.

“They reduced their strikes on energy. That’s a fact. But I wanted us to pay attention to this – Russia did not reduce the number of strikes, that was the strategy … by reducing [strikes on] energy, they are hitting other civilian infrastructure," the Ukrainian president said.