We don’t even hear them anymore,” Zhenya chuckles from under first-person-view (FPV) goggles branded with the U.S. company “Fat Shark.” Zhenya and his co-developer for DragoDrones, or DCU, Maksym, are testing a stack of small FPV drones in a field in Kharkiv Oblast.

China’s escalating conflict with the US over trade is now extending to the drones that have become a vital part of Ukraine’s defense.

Chinese manufacturers began limiting their sales of vital drone components to their U.S. and European customers, preluding a broader ban on exports by officials, Bloomberg wrote, citing undisclosed sources on Dec.