Russia has asked China for military assistance including drones, to support its invasion of Ukraine, amid the ongoing military operations, a top US official cited by CNN broadcaster said. However, Liu Pengyu, the Chinese embassy spokesperson in Washington, said he was unaware of any suggestions that China might be willing to help Russia. “I’ve never heard of that,” Pengyu said in a statement when asked by CNN about the reporting of Russia’s request for military aid. Pengyu expressed concern for “the Ukraine situation”—calling it “indeed disconcerting”—and said China has and will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. Pengyu said: “The high priority now is to prevent the tense situation from escalating or even getting out of control. … China calls for exercising utmost restraint and preventing a massive humanitarian crisis,” as per CNN. On 24 February, Russia began a “special military operation” in Ukraine. Despite sharing strong ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin and criticizing the West over the sanctions against Russia, China’s President Xi Jinping has found himself in a tough position amid the Russia-Ukraine war. The US and its European allies have introduced sanctions targeting several major Russian banks and high-rank Russian officials, including Putin, besides ousting Russia from the SWIFT financial system. A report from Beijing quoted Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian as saying on Monday that the United States must fully explain its “military-biological activities” abroad, including ones in Ukraine,. “If the US wants to prove the sincerity of its activities, why does not it open these biological laboratories for independent research by international experts?” Zhao told reporters, commenting on the reports on the alleged US-funded Biolabs in Ukraine. The Chinese spokesperson said the world community is concerned about the operation of dozens of biological laboratories in Ukraine in accordance with orders from the US Department of Defense. Last week, Moscow said that they have confirmed facts revealed during the “military operation” that prove the Kyiv regime is destroying evidence of military biological programmes. “We confirm facts revealed during the special military operation in Ukraine, which prove that the Kyiv regime has been destroying the evidence of military biological programmes Kyiv was implementing. They were funded by US Department of Defense,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. Rejecting the allegations made by Russia about the presence of US-funded chemical and biological weapons in Ukraine, the State Department earlier had said the Kremlin is spreading lies about such illegal activities in the eastern European country. “The Kremlin is intentionally spreading outright lies that the United States and Ukraine are conducting chemical and biological weapons activities in Ukraine. We have also seen PRC (China) officials echo these conspiracy theories,” the US State Department said in a statement in response to allegations made by Russia. The State Department responded by saying that “this Russian disinformation is total nonsense” and not the first time Russia has invented such false claims against another country. “Also, these claims have been debunked conclusively and repeatedly over many years.”
“As we have said all along, Russia is inventing false pretexts in an attempt to justify its own horrific actions in Ukraine. The United States does not own or operate any chemical or biological laboratories in Ukraine,” the State Department added.