Dutch components found in Russian rockets: Ukrainian media

Components produced by companies from Europe, the United States, and Japan are found in Russian missiles. This is reported by the Ukrainian news site The Kyiv Independent, which mentioned the Netherlands-based Nexperia as one of the producers. The site’s report is based on an internal document that it said was shared with ambassadors from G7 countries.

Ukraine expects Russia to be able to ramp up its long-range missile production in 2023 despite Western sanctions, according to the document. All sorts of Western chips have been found in ballistic missiles that are regularly fired at Ukraine. According to the site, it is often unclear where exactly those parts were produced.

An anonymous source told The Kyiv Independent that the Ukrainian government thinks many components were shipped to Russia in early 2023 when sanctions were already in place to prevent that. The Ukrainian government will approach Western governments with a request to enforce the sanctions.

The suspicion that there are foreign chips in Russian missiles is not new. Research by NOS and Nieuwsuur showed in January that Chinese companies resell NXP and Nexperia chips produced in the Netherlands to Russia. Those chips were found in Russian weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine.