China is boosting Russia’s war machine in Ukraine, says U.S.

China is aiding Russia's military buildup in Ukraine with drone technology, missile systems, and satellite imagery, per U.S. officials.

China is backing Russia's war effort in Ukraine by helping Moscow in its biggest military buildup since the Soviet era, providing drone and missile technology, satellite imagery and machine tools, senior U.S. officials said on Friday.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said U.S. President Joe Biden raised the issue with Chinese President Xi Jinping in their recent phone call and that it is a topic of discussion with U.S. allies in Europe and around the world.

One official said Chinese materials are filling critical gaps in Russia's defence production cycle and helping Moscow undertake its "most ambitious defence expansion since the Soviet era and on a faster timeline than we believed possible early on in this conflict."

"Our view is that one of the most game-changing moves available to us at this time to support Ukraine is to persuade the PRC (China) to stop helping Russia reconstitute its military industrial base. Russia would struggle to sustain its war effort without PRC input," the official said.

Some of the information provided by the officials in a small briefing with reporters was based on declassified intelligence. They sketched a wide array of ways China is helping Russia's two-year war against Ukraine without providing lethal assistance.

President Joe Biden has been pressuring Republicans who control the U.S. House of Representatives to approve a major infusion of funding for providing weapons to Ukraine as it struggles to fend off the Russians.

The U.S. and its allies have also been more blunt about confronting Chinese aggression in the South China Sea and against self-ruled Taiwan. China complained about what it viewed as anti-China rhetoric emanating from Biden's talks this week with the leaders of Japan and the Philippines, prompting a denial from the White House.