The Chinese father and son detained in Ukraine, accused of having tried to pass information on the guided missile system

Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday that two Chinese nationals – a father and a son – had been detained and accused of having tried to illegally transfer classified documents to a key Ukrainian missile system in Beijing.

According to a press release from the Office of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General, an investigation by the Ukraine Intelligence Agency (SBU) of the Security Service (SBU) found the young man, a 24 -year -old man who was expelled from a Ukrainian university in 2023 for academic failure, remained in Ukraine and tried to recruit a national Ukrainian who worked on the development of “Neptune” Guadile System.

“It was established that the foreigner was collecting and was supposed to be transferred to his father, who has close ties to the security agencies and the general China staff, the documentation on the Neptune missile system,” said the government in his declaration, describing the missiles as “a single weapon of the Defense forces of Ukraine” which was used during a marker attack on the Russian navy in 2022.

The SBU said that the father of the man had entered Ukraine earlier this week to “personally coordinate his son’s spy work”.

None of the men have been identified.

According to the prosecutor general’s office, the 24 -year -old was detained when he was transmitting information to his father, who was detained two days later. The father visited the Chinese embassy in kyiv one day before his detention, the statement said.

The Chinese embassy did not respond to the request for comments from CBS News on this story.

The news occurs a week after the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said to the first diplomat of the European Union that Beijing did not want to see Ukraine winning the war that Russia was launched with its 2022 invasion on a large scale. Chinese officials did not confirm this private statement from Wang during a visit to Brussels, reported by the South China Morning Post and other points of sale.

Chinese officials said on several occasions that the country’s position on the Ukrainian war was neutrality, but an American Defense Ministry report published at the end of 2024 concluded that China supported Russia during the war and sold articles for double use of Russia which are crucial for the Moscow military industry.

As part of the Biden administration, then Secretary of State Antony Blinken said At the beginning of 2023, the US government feared that Beijing was planning to increase its support for Russia with “everything, ammunition with arms themselves”.

China continued to deny to take sides in the war, but it has Deepening his relationship with Moscowboth politically and militarily, significantly in recent years.

The Neptune system is a Ukrainian cruise missile designed in the country which has been in service with the Ukrainian navy since March 2021. Guided missiles of almost 2,000 pounds are designed to target ships and land targets, and it turned out to be successful in the first months of war when it was used pour the moskva Cruiser of guided missiles, which was the flagship of the Black Sea fleet of Russia.

The missiles, which have a range of around 174 miles, are a vital weapon for Ukraine as it seeks to defend its coastal area of ​​the Black Sea. It was also deployed elsewhere and struck military objectives, including an air base in the Russian Kursk region last year, according to the Ukraine army.

Neptune’s original design has been improved to extend its range and reduce Ukraine’s dependence on weapons provided by the United States and Europe.

The two Chinese people had to remain in detention during an investigation before the trial. If they are found guilty of the accusations, they could incur prison terms of up to 15 years.