By Galina Korol | 2025-07-17

Ukraine's growing reputation as a weapon innovator -- particularly in missile technology -- is drawing international attention and espionage attempts. The Neptune cruise missile, credited with sinking Russia's Moskva warship in 2022 in the Black Sea, is now at the center of a spy case involving two Chinese nationals.

On July 9, Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) arrested a former technical university student and his father as they allegedly tried to pass classified documents about the RK-360MC Neptune missile system in Kyiv.

The student, sometime after expulsion for poor academic performance, tried to recruit a Ukrainian weapon developer, authorities said. The father reportedly traveled from China to help coordinate the operation, they said.

The SBU said it recovered phones containing messages that showed the pair coordinating espionage efforts. If convicted, they face up to 15 years in prison and the confiscation of property.

"China knows where to poke around and where they can obtain information. They exist thanks to technological theft. They copy everything," Oleg Zhdanov, a military analyst and reservist colonel on the Ukrainian general staff, told Kontur.

A coveted prize for spies

Beijing's interest in Ukraine's defense technology is no surprise, observers say, and it is based on strategic calculation.

"Today Ukraine is a technologically developed country. We have critical technologies, and that makes us an object of interest," Mykhailo Prytula, an analyst of military counterintelligence and reservist colonel in the SBU, told Kontur.

China years ago learned everything it could from Russia's weapon design bureaus and found their missile programs largely derivative of outdated Soviet systems, said Zhdanov.

"[The Russians] had their own developments, like the Bulava, but to this day it doesn't fly. In 2018 the chief designer committed suicide," he noted. "Then there's the Sarmat, which [Russian President Vladimir] Putin tried to frighten the whole world with. It took off once, and that's it. Since then, it either blows up or doesn't fly."

By contrast, Ukraine retained a functioning missile industry, including the Pivdenmash factory and the Luch design bureau -- key players in missile and guidance system development, Zhdanov said.

A symbol and threat

Ukraine's Luch design bureau has propelled the country into an elite group capable of producing its own cruise missiles.

The Neptune, developed by Luch, famously sank the Moskva. That event intensified Chinese interest in the technology, executive director of the Ukrainian Center for Security and Cooperation Dmytro Zhmaylo told Kontur.

Much about the Neptune remains classified. The missile began as a Kh-35 air-defense system, but designers adapted it into a land-based antiship weapon that later evolved into a surface-to-surface system known as Long Neptune, said Zhdanov.

Ukraine has not disclosed the upgraded missile's range, but in March, a Long Neptune reportedly struck a Russian refinery in Tuapse, about 1,000km from Russian-occupied Ukrainian cities.

The missile now includes a larger warhead, Global Positioning System guidance and infrared homing, said Zhmaylo. He called it "radical technology" that is cheaper to produce than foreign counterparts are, making it an attractive target for espionage.

While state-conducted espionage is one method of acquiring such secrets, analysts warn of less conventional tactics. Some Chinese nationals may act independently to gain state favor, Prytula said.

"We should also consider the possible scenario of a family business. That's when a family wants to produce something and tries to get some information for which it will receive preferential treatment from the state later on," he explained.

How spies operate

China responded cautiously to Ukraine's arrest of the Chinese father and son.

"If Chinese citizens are involved, we will safeguard their legitimate rights and interests in accordance with the law," Mao Ning, the spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said on July 10.

That same week, authorities in Greece detained four Chinese citizens in connection with charges of photographing Rafale fighter jets at the Tanagra air base, Militarnyi reported. Disregarding warnings from security personnel, the individuals continued taking photos. Investigators seized hundreds of images and are probing whether the incident was part of a broader intelligence operation.

China uses a layered espionage model that often relies on students and workers rather than on professional agents, political analyst Oleksiy Golobutsky told Focus.

"This kind of tactic makes it harder to pick out spies because they often don't show obvious signs that would identify them as intelligence agents," he told the outlet on July 10.

Chinese nationals abroad remain under the watch of Beijing's intelligence services, said Golobutsky.

If they land in positions deemed useful, they have no choice but to "serve the motherland" under pressure or threats.