China stopped selling DJI Mavic drones to Ukraine, but increased exports to russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on May 28 that Chinese drones, in particular the Mavic model, have become inaccessible to the Ukrainian side and a number of European countries, while Russia continues to receive such devices without restrictions.

According to the head of state, production lines are operating at the RAIS with the participation of Chinese representatives, which allows the number of drones at the disposal of the Russian army to be regularly increased.

The information about the decrease in supplies was also confirmed by a European official quoted by the agency. “When someone asks whether China is helping Russia, how should we evaluate these steps?” — V. Zelenskyy noted skeptically.

There has been no official comment from the Chinese authorities on the Ukrainian president’s statement so far. However, on the eve of the meeting, the representative of the Chinese Foreign Ministry Mao Ning again emphasized that China does not transfer lethal weapons to any of the parties to the conflict and adheres to strict control over the export of dual-use goods.

“China’s position on the Ukrainian issue remains consistent and clear. We advocate a ceasefire and promote peace negotiations. China has never supplied lethal weapons to any party and strictly controls dual-use goods,” Mao Ning said, adding that Beijing opposes “unfounded accusations and political manipulations.”

Despite claims of neutrality, China’s actions are causing debate about its actual position in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The British The Guardian reported on a major cyberattack, which is behind the Russian GRU, namely unit 26165 — better known as APT28 or Fancy Bear. images from 10,000 video surveillance cameras installed at border crossings, railway junctions and military facilities in Ukraine, as well as Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary.

What happened

The hackers used the cameras for a one-time recording of the situation — they received “snapshots of the moment”, rather than a constant broadcast, but this turned out to be enough to analyze the routes of supplying weapons and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

Here is how the access points were distributed:

• 80% of cameras — in Ukraine (~8000 devices)
• 10% — in Romania (~1000)
• 4% — in Poland (~400)
• 2.8% — in Hungary (~280)
• 1.7% — in Slovakia (~170)
• ~150 cameras — geography is not installed

APT28 has already been implicated in investigations into the hacking of the US Democratic Party servers in 2016, as well as in the World Anti-Doping Agency data leak.

Attack methods

The cameras are only part of the scheme.

• phishing emails with questionable content (including for adults)
• fake profiles of civil servants
• voice calls impersonating officials
• attempts to steal logistics documents: manifests, train schedules, and supply routes

The United States, Great Britain, Germany, and France issued a joint statement condemning Russia’s actions and calling for increased cyber defense of critical infrastructure.

Cybersecurity experts recommend the following measures:

• enabling multi-factor authentication
• segmenting video surveillance networks
• updating IP camera firmware
• blocking VPN access from unknown addresses
• monitoring requests via RTSP (video streaming protocol)

Special attention should be paid to the protection of the RTSP protocol, which is often used in IP cameras and allows remote control of streams – it was through it that the images could be captured.

The attack confirms that cyberwar remains the most important tool of pressure from the Russian Federation. This time, its target was not combat units, but logistics – a vital channel on which the stability of Ukraine’s defense depends.