August 5, 2024: While Ukraine has major allies in the form of NATO assistance, Russia has no such support and must pay for its war in Ukraine with no outside support. This has crippled the Russian economy, which is already suffering from economic sanctions imposed by its major trading partners in Europe and some in Asia. This led Russia to depend more on trade with China. This the Chinese agreed to do, while assuring their Western trading partners that Chinese goods sold to Russia would not include weapons or munitions. Naturally the Chinese sent those anyway.

In 2024 Ukraine reported that Russian troops were using Chinese munitions. The Ukrainians had proof and, when Chinese officials were shown these munitions, they responded that Russia must have obtained these munitions from third parties. China pointed out that it is a major exporter of munitions and those buyers could sell their Chinese munitions to Russia for a profit. China is one of the top five exporters of weapons and munitions in the world but because of Russian demands for more munitions to use in Ukraine, Russia has gone from a major exporter of weapons to a major importer. Before the war Russia was a major exporter of munitions to China but since the Ukraine War began those exports have stopped and China is now a major exporter of munitions to Russia. China tries to keep this quiet, but they are indeed the source of all those Chinese made bullets Russian troops have been using. Chinese efforts to blame third party sources for supplying Russia with Chinese munitions falls flat when anyone scrutinizes global munitions shipments before and after Russia invaded Ukraine. Chime considers these facts embarrassing, but business is business.