British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has accused China of supplying lethal aid to Russia.
In particular, the British minister's statement at a London security conference was quoted by PAMedia:
"American and British intelligence will make public the information that lethal aid is coming from China to Russia and then to Ukraine."
However, another reputable news agency, Reuters, reports a slightly different version of Shapps' statements. It follows that, in the minister's opinion, lethal military aid from China to Russia is "already arriving or will arrive".
The British government's website has published a full transcript of his speech; it is noted that this is the transcript "exactly as he said it".
Shapps' quote does not go into detail, but reads as follows:
"The axis of authoritarian powers led by Russia, China, Iran and North Korea is escalating and fuelling conflicts and tensions. They are increasingly working together. And today I can disclose that we have evidence that Russia and China are working together on military equipment for use in Ukraine. As we saw with Putin's state visit to Beijing and the 64% increase in trade between Russia and China since the full-scale invasion began, they have each other's backs," Shapps said.
He did not provide any other details of possible cooperation between Russia and China.
As a reminder, Shapps recently said that the UK provided Ukraine with 80 air defence missiles in May and will provide another 20 by early June.