Canada must sanction the Chinese tech companies fuelling the horrors in Ukraine

Globe and Mail

5 days ago

Marcus Kolga is the founder of DisinfoWatch and a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
Almost every night since May, Russian missiles and drones – powered by Iranian designs and packed with Chinese components – have torn through Ukrainian schools, hospitals and homes, killing or maiming thousands in a ruthless campaign of terror. Those drones are now reaching further into Ukraine, striking apartment buildings in Lviv over the weekend.
In June alone, 5,429 Russian drones and ballistic missiles struck Ukrainian targets. According to the UN, they have caused more than 3,000 civilian casualties since the start of the war, with 232 civilians killed in June. Analysts warn that Russia could soon develop the capacity to launch up to 1,000 drones in a single night against Ukrainian civilian targets.
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Russia's weapon of choice in its war of terror is the Iranian-designed Shahed drone – now mass-produced in Russia and rebranded as the 'Geran.' Day after day, waves of these drones hover over Ukrainian cities, with their operators safe inside Russia, actively targeting civilian infrastructure and hunting civilians. Just last week, a one-year-old child was reportedly tracked and killed by a Russian drone operator. The purpose of these drones is clear: to terrorize and demoralize Ukrainian society, destroy critical infrastructure and deprive millions of electricity, water, heat and hope.
What is less known, but deeply disturbing, is the extent to which China is supplying components and technology to enable Russia's growing ability to build these drones. The collaboration of Chinese companies and the Chinese regime in building these weapons makes them directly complicit in facilitating and enabling the war crimes being committed against the Ukrainian people.
The evidence of Chinese involvement is clear. Ukrainian security services have identified Chinese-origin components in Russian drones recovered after attacks on Kyiv. A recent Bloomberg investigation revealed a direct partnership between Russian firm Aero-HIT and Chinese suppliers and engineers to help Russia mass-produce drones. A growing list of Chinese companies have been exposed for supplying critical components: engines, carbon fibre airframes, electronics, navigation systems and antennas – all essential parts integrated into drones now rolling off Russian assembly lines.
Earlier this month, Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council formally sanctioned five Chinese companies for supplying components used in Russia's terror drones. The United States has sanctioned more than 200 Chinese and Hong Kong entities for enabling Russia's war machine, while the European Union has listed over 50.
In comparison, Canada has fallen behind. While Canada was among the first to sanction Iranian drone manufacturers in 2022, Ottawa added just 20 Chinese entities to our sanctions list last February, far fewer than our allies and nowhere near sufficient given the growing scale of China's support for Russia's drone program.
Even here in Canada, there is disturbing evidence of complicity. In June, the RCMP charged Anton Trofimov – a Russian national living in Canada – for allegedly exporting restricted technologies to Russia via Hong Kong for the purpose of manufacturing weapons, underscoring how Canada itself has been exploited as a platform for Russian sanctions evasion.
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Recent reports indicate that Russia's drone production has tripled in 2025, underscoring the urgent need to disrupt the Kremlin's supply chains and expand and rigorously enforce sanctions against the Chinese entities fuelling it.
Canada's sanctions are meant to deny aggressor states like Russia the means to wage war and to hold their enablers, such as Iran and China, to account. Canada has clear legal authority to sanction those who enable war crimes. All of the Chinese firms sanctioned by Ukraine this month – and earlier by our allies – meet that standard and should be added to Canada's sanctions list, along with any others contributing to Russia's arsenal.
Beyond this, Canada should amend its sanctions legislation to allow for the rapid imposition of secondary sanctions on any entity doing business with sanctioned Chinese firms. This would make it significantly harder for any company to collaborate with Chinese suppliers.
Finally, Canada should designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism under the State Immunity Act – an action that would allow victims to pursue civil cases in Canadian courts, including against Chinese entities that enable Russia's war.
The need to act is dire and undeniable: thousands of lives are at stake. As innocent Ukrainian civilians endure relentless nightly bombardments from Russian drones powered by Chinese-made components, we cannot afford to hesitate. Disrupting the supply lines that fuel Russia's campaign of terror and holding the Chinese private and government entities enabling this deadly collaboration to account will help save innocent Ukrainian lives.