A Russian drone containing Indian-made electronic components has been discovered on Ukraine’s battlefield, head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andriy Yermak said in a social media post.

Yermak said that parts from Indian manufacturers had been identified in Shahed and Geran unmanned aerial vehicles — systems widely used by Russia to strike the Ukrainian front line and civilian infrastructure.

Yermak stressed the need “to deprive the Russians of the ability to source components from other countries and to stop the killing of Ukrainians”. He added: “The purchase of Russian energy resources is funding the war, which does not contribute to peace.”

India is an ally of Russia’s and a fellow BRICS member. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has attempted to sit on the fence in the Russo-Ukraine conflict. However, Russia remains a major arms supplier to the Indian government that recently fought a short war with Pakistan and has ordered Russia’s S-400 air defence missiles and bought billions of dollars of other hardware in the past. At the same time, India’s relations with the US and the West has deteriorated in the last two years as of Western pressure to downgrade BRICS relations and more recently as part of the Trump administration’s tariff war on its trade partners, driving India into the arms of the Sino-Russian alliance.

Yermak said Ukraine had formally raised the issue with both the Indian government and the EU, reports the Hindustan Times. According to the newspaper, electronic parts manufactured or assembled by Vishay Intertechnology and Aura Semiconductor had been found in Shahed-136 drones.

The claim comes shortly after a new decoy drone was found on the battlefield made almost entirely of Chinese components. In the first year of the war, Russia remained almost entirely dependent on Western technology to make its missiles. Technology sanctions cut Russia off from that technology and it took to importing Western washing machines for their advanced chips and cannibalised them to produce its missiles. At the same time, Beijing has shied away from overtly supplying Russia with military technology and arms but has been less shy in supplying the Kremlin with dual-use technology. As bne IntelliNews reported, China is playing a crucial role in allowing Russia to compete with Ukraine in the drone warfare arms race by supplying crucial components and support that has allowed Russia to pull far ahead in the industrial production race to supply armies on the battlefield.

A Ukrainian investigation concluded that Russia had used components from Indian companies in the production of the drones. The sources cited by the Hindustan Times noted that the companies “formally did not violate any Indian laws”.

It appears that India is following the same playbook as China. India’s Ministry of External Affairs said that the export of dual-use goods from India “complies with its international non-proliferation obligations and is based on the country’s domestic legal and regulatory framework”. It confirmed that “a relevant inspection is underway”.

The claims follow an April 2025 report from Ukraine's Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) that, for the first time, a component of Indian origin — a clock buffer from Aura Semiconductor — had been found in Russian weaponry.

In early July, HUR said there was a growing trend of Moscow replacing western components with Chinese-made parts in its loitering munitions. In May, Geran-2 drones — a Russian designation for the Shahed — were found to contain “60-65% Chinese electronics”, marking a sharp increase in their use.