More from the article...

...The Biden administration vowed last month to crack down on companies that sell critical technologies to Russia as part of its efforts to curtail the country's war against Ukraine. But the continued flow of Chinese drones to the country explains why that will be hard.

While drone sales have slowed, American policies put in place after Russia's invasion have failed to stanch exports of the unmanned aerial vehicles that work as eyes in the sky for frontline fighters. In the year since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, China has sold more than $12 million in drones and drone parts to the country, according to official Russian customs data from a third-party data provider.

It is hard to determine whether the Chinese drones contain American technologies that would violate the U.S. rules or whether they are legal. The shipments, a mix of products from DJI, the world's best-known drone maker, and an array of smaller companies, often came through small-time middlemen and exporters.

Complicated sales channels and vague product descriptions within export data also make it hard to definitively show whether there are U.S. components in the Chinese products, which could constitute a violation of the American export controls. And the official sales are likely only one part of a larger flow of technologies through unofficial channels and other nations friendly to Russia, like Kazakhstan, Pakistan and Belarus....

@#2 ... China is sending them poorly made slow flying and loud drones. ...

Still, those drones deplete Ukraine's air defenses.