If China stops supporting Russia, war would end tomorrow, says Trump's Ukraine envoy

In a rare criticism of the China-Russia nexus, Keith Kellogg, the US Special Envoy to Ukraine, has said that Russia cannot survive without Chinese support and its war on Ukraine would end tomorrow if China would stop its support.

At a session of the Yalta European Strategy (YES) at Kyiv, Kellog said that Russia was the junior partner of China and dependent on China to continue the war.

“If you look at China and Russia together, Russia is the junior partner. They’re not the Chinese. The Chinese have got the economic strength, they’ve got the military strength, they’ve got the history clearly behind them and the leadership behind them as well. And I think that if China cut off support for Russia today, the war will be over tomorrow. I think they cannot survive without China’s support,” said Kellog.

Since Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Chinese support has kept Russia’s economy as well as war-waging capabilities afloat. China has provided Russia with drones, munitions, machinery to make weapons, dual-use goods, and provided the country consumer goods as it lost access to Western suppliers. At the same time, it also absorbed Russian energy exports, becoming the largest buyer of Russian oil and a significant buyer of Russian oil.

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⚡️ Kellogg: Russia’s army isn’t as strong as Putin claims — Ukraine has knocked them down a few notches. pic.twitter.com/6pF4C7KwyB

— UNITED24 Media (@United24media) September 15, 2025

Kellog also flagged North Korea’s support to Russia. He said that the extent of North Korean help shows Russia has not been doing great in the war.

“If Russia was doing so well, they would not have to have the need to bring in 10,000 North Korean troops to fight,” said Kellog.

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Since last year, North Korea has deployed up to 15,000 soldiers to fight the Ukrainians beside Russian forces. North Korean soldiers have served on the frontlines where they have played key role in major theatres like Kursk where they joined Russian forces in evicting Ukrainian forces from the province. Moreover, estimates in the public domain say that North Korea has supplied up to half of Russia’s overall artillery requirements in the war.