Russians covertly trained by China return to fight in Ukraine: Sources

Highlights:

• European intelligence agencies say China is training Russian soldiers
• Training includes drone warfare and counter-drone measures
• Some of those trained now fighting in Ukraine, agencies say
• Russian and Chinese leaders due to meet in Beijing this week

China's armed forces secretly trained about 200 Russian military personnel in China late last year and some have since returned to fight in Ukraine, according to three European intelligence agencies and documents seen by Reuters.

While China and Russia have held a number of joint military exercises since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Beijing has repeatedly stated that it is neutral in the conflict and presents itself as a peace mediator.

The covert training sessions, which predominantly focused on the use of drones, were outlined in a dual-language Russian-Chinese agreement signed by senior Russian and Chinese officers in Beijing on 2 July, 2025.

The agreement, reviewed by Reuters, said about 200 Russian troops would be trained at military facilities in locations including Beijing and the eastern city of Nanjing. The sources said around this number subsequently trained in China.

The agreement also said hundreds of Chinese troops would undergo training at military facilities in Russia.

By training Russian military personnel at an operational and tactical level who then participate in Ukraine, China is far more directly involved in the war on the European continent than previously known, one intelligence official said.

The Russian and Chinese defence ministries did not respond to requests for comment on the details outlined in this article.

"On the Ukraine crisis, China has consistently maintained an objective and impartial stance and worked to promote peace talks, this is consistent and clear and is witnessed by the international community," China's foreign ministry said in a statement to Reuters. "Relevant parties should not deliberately stoke confrontation or shift blame."

The intelligence agencies spoke on condition they not be identified in order to discuss sensitive information.

European powers, which see Russia as a major security threat, have watched warily at increasingly close relations between Russia and China, the world's second largest economy and an important European Union trade partner.

The two nations announced a "no limits" strategic partnership days before Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and pledged to conduct military exercises to rehearse coordination between their armed forces. As the West tried to isolate Russia, China provided a lifeline by buying its oil, gas and coal.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping is due to host Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday and Wednesday, less than a week after US President Donald Trump's high-profile visit.

China and Russia have cast Putin's trip - his 25th visit to China - as further evidence of their "all-weather" partnership, even as the West urges Beijing to pressure Moscow into ending its war in Ukraine.

Drone warfare

Drones have proved to be a vital weapon in Ukraine.

Both sides use long-range models to attack targets hundreds of miles away, while on the battlefield, smaller drones remote controlled by pilots using first person view equipment (FPV) and armed with explosives dominate the sky, making it hazardous for armoured vehicles or infantry to move.

In September, Reuters reported that experts from private Chinese companies had conducted technical development work on military drones for a Russian attack drone manufacturer, according to European officials. China's foreign ministry said then it was unaware of the collaboration.

The two companies identified in the article were sanctioned by the EU last month.

According to the training agreement reviewed by Reuters, the Russians would be schooled in disciplines such as drones, electronic warfare, army aviation and armoured infantry. The agreement prohibited any media coverage of the visits in either country and said no third parties should be informed.

Visits by Chinese troops to Russia for training have been taking place since at least 2024, but Russian personnel training in China is new, two of the intelligence agencies said.

While Russia has extensive combat experience in Ukraine, China's vast drone industry offers technological know-how and advanced training methods such as flight simulators, they said.

China's People's Liberation Army has not fought a major war for decades, but it has expanded quickly in the past 20 years and now rivals US military might in some areas.

A significant number of Russian personnel who received training in China were ranking military instructors in a position to pass knowledge down the chain of command, the two intelligence agencies said.

One of the agencies said they had confirmed the identities of a handful of Russian military personnel who trained in China and had since been directly involved in combat operations with drones in Ukraine's occupied Crimea and Zaporizhzhia regions.

The rank of those people ranged from junior sergeant to lieutenant colonel, the agency said.

The names of the individuals appeared in a Russian military document seen by Reuters that listed the servicemen going to China. Reuters was unable to independently confirm the subsequent involvement of those individuals in the Ukraine war.

The same intelligence agency said it was highly probable that many of those who trained in China had gone to Ukraine.

Mortars and flight simulators

Internal Russian military reports reviewed by Reuters described four of the training sessions for Russian troops in China after they had taken place.

One report dated December 2025 described a training course on combined arms warfare for about 50 Russian military personnel at the PLA's Ground Forces Army Infantry Academy branch in Shijiazhuang.

The report said the course involved training soldiers to fire 82mm mortars while using unmanned aerial vehicles to identify their targets.

A second report described air defence training at a military facility, including with electronic warfare rifles, net-throwing devices and drones to counter incoming drones. Two officials said the facility was located in Zhengzhou.

All of these types of equipment are relevant to the war in Ukraine. Electronic warfare rifles are aimed at incoming drones to interfere and disrupt their signals, while nets can be thrown around drones to ensnare them as they get close.

Both sides use fibre-optic aerial drones connected to their pilots by fine thread which cannot be jammed electronically. Fibre-optic drones typically operate with a range of 10 km to 20 km, but some can go as far as 40 km (25 miles).

A third report, dated December 2025 and written by a Russian major, described drone training for Russian personnel at Yibin's PLA Training Centre for Military Aviation, first brigade. The course centred around multimedia presentations and involved the use of flight simulators, training to use several types of FPV drone and two other types of drone, it said.

A fourth report described a course in November, 2025 at the Nanjing University of Military Engineering of the PLA Infantry. The training covered explosives technology, mine construction, demining as well as the removal of unexploded ordnance and improvised explosive devices.

This report included photographs of Russian soldiers in uniform being taught by Chinese instructors in military uniform. The images also showed Russian soldiers being shown engineering equipment and how to sweep for mines.