For years Europe has repeated that its money will never fund anything not manufactured on European soil. And now, quietly, it has opened exactly that door - for components from China.

Brussels approved Ukraine to use around six billion euros of European credit to buy Chinese parts for drone production: motors, batteries, electronics and other components that European industry cannot supply in the needed quantities, or fast enough. The first tranche is already moving - 3.9 billion euros have been transferred.

The program rules, in principle, require military equipment to be produced in Ukraine, in EU countries, or with approved partners. But Brussels kept a back door for itself: exceptions are allowed when the needed goods cannot be procured in time, or when European producers simply lack the capacity. And it is through exactly that door that Chinese parts now pass.

The irony is heavy. China is the key supplier of components for drone makers - on both sides of the front. The same factory that ships parts for Ukrainian drones very likely ships similar ones to the other side too. A war in which everyone swears China is the problem is being run on Chinese motors.

Total European credit for Ukraine for the 2026-2027 period reaches 90 billion euros, 60 billion of it earmarked for defense, while the military-industry budget for 2026 alone comes to 28.3 billion. These are not figures for short-term aid - this is a budget for a long war.

The EU claims the goal is for the larger share of the money to ultimately strengthen the Ukrainian and European defense industry, to cut dependence on outside suppliers. Sounds nice on paper. But the reality is that right now, when the pressure is highest, Europe cannot manage without China - even as it says the opposite every single day.

For us in the Balkans the story has a particular taste. We get lectured on principles and rules every time our membership comes up, our procurement, our concessions. But when the big players need an exception, the rules quietly bend. Do the rules apply to everyone equally, or only to those without the power to get around them?