EU confirms: China trained hundreds of Russian soldiers who fought in Ukraine

The European Union has intelligence indicating that China conducted military training for hundreds of Russian servicemembers, some of whom subsequently took part in combat operations in Ukraine.

This was reported by EuroPravda, citing an EU source.

According to the source, European intelligence services confirmed that Russian military personnel were trained at several training facilities in China.

“Our services have confirmed information about China training Russian soldiers. The training took place at several training bases in China, and hundreds of Russian army servicemembers went through it,” the source stated.

The training program covered the use of drones, electronic warfare, and motorized infantry tactics.

This confirmation followed a Reuters investigation published on May 19. It cited three European intelligence services and a bilingual Russian-Chinese agreement signed by senior officers in Beijing on July 2, 2025. According to the document, around 200 Russian military personnel were to undergo training at facilities in Beijing and Nanjing. At least some of them were subsequently identified as participants in combat operations in the occupied territories — in Crimea and Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Beijing and Moscow denied the reports.

Diplomatic meetings canceled

The revelations about military training coincided with a broader deterioration in relations between the EU and China. According to Financial Times, published on June 10, China this month canceled two diplomatic meetings with the EU — a ministerial digital dialogue and a separate meeting involving Olof Skoog, the deputy secretary-general of the EU’s diplomatic service. No new dates for the talks were set.

The European Commission stated that the canceled meetings “are in the process of being rescheduled,” and pointed to a June 9 meeting in Brussels between Director General for Trade Ditte Juul Jørgensen and China’s Vice Minister of Commerce Lin Ji as evidence that dialogue is continuing.

New supply chain rules aimed at Beijing

In parallel, the EU is advancing legislation that could require companies in critical sectors to source products from at least three different suppliers, with no more than 30–40 percent of purchases coming from a single source.

EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič said on June 5 that such rules would protect companies from “general supply chain disruptions and state policies, in particular export restrictions imposed by China on a number of rare earth metals.” The proposed diversification measures are part of a broad trade package planned for release before the end of the third quarter of 2026. The package also envisages accelerated anti-dumping investigations and may be endorsed by EU leaders at a summit at the end of June.