Why Won’t China Cut Ukraine Off From Drone-Related Sales? Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack, Indefinitely perpetuating the Ukrainian Conflict through these means indefinitely delays the full implementation of the US’ planned “Pivot (back) to (East) Asia”, can lead to Russia selling its natural resource wealth to China at bargain-basement prices, and maintains China’s “active neutrality”. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) referenced the EU’s summertime disbursement of the first €1 billion to Ukraine for drone procurement out of the €6 billion promised for this program in an article late last month about how “Ukraine’s Drone War Exposes An Uncomfortable Reliance On China“. They drew attention to the carve-out allowing Ukraine to purchase Chinese parts with these funds, ergo the politically incorrect observation back then that “The EU Plans To Pay China To Help Ukraine Kill Russians“. RFE/RL reported that “While Kyiv has cut back on the purchase of ready-made drones from China, components such as motors, lithium batteries, and fiberoptics are still in high demand.” Additionally, “In the first six months of 2026, imports of Chinese parts had already reached around 76 percent of the total recorded for the previous year.” They also cited a Ukrainian report which claimed that “38 percent of the value of drone components imported by Ukraine in the first half of 2025 came from China.” The purpose of their piece appears to be to instill a sense of urgency in Ukraine and the West alike to radically ramp up domestic drone production in order to reduce what one of their cited experts described as Ukraine’s “hostile interdependence” on China. They explained that “Beijing remains Kyiv’s largest trading partner, while Ukraine is a key supplier of agricultural goods to China.” That’s true, and it’s one of the reasons why China won’t cut Ukraine off from drone-related