Ukrainian drone that smashed TU-95 bomber is based on a smuggled UAV China refused to sell

A Ukrainian drone strike in western Russia took out a TU-95 bomber while the craft was parked on the tarmac
The drone technology used in the attack is based on the Chinese ZTK-150 UAV
Ukraine’s MICH 2000s were built when China stopped selling its UAVs, adapted for use in the war with Russia

Ukrainian drones recently made a successful attack on a fleet of Russian military aircraft at an airstrip in western Russia, but while the TU-95 bomber and others were put out of action, the origins of the drones have raised eyebrows. The attack drones might have appeared to be Chinese ZTK-150s, but China has refused to sell the UAVs since 2023.

In fact, while they might look alike, the ZTK-150s have been effectively cloned by Ukraine, with customizations and improvements made to suit both the needs of the remote pilots and the demands of the Russo-Ukrainian war.

Inspired by the performance and the unavailability of the ZTK-150s, Ukraine has instead developed the similar MICH 2000s, based on information gathered during trips to China.

Critical damage

Attack drones were launched at the Engels-2 air base in western Russia on July 16, 2026, in an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle strike that targeted a Tupolev Tu-95 and four Tupolev Tu-22Ms. Aerial footage of the strike’s aftermath, assessed by the Ukrainian state security body the SBU, revealed considerable damage to the Tu-95.

“According to preliminary data, the plane suffered critical damage. It completely tore off the tail part,” says the SBU report.

How the Ukrainians achieved this has just been revealed, along with the story of how their forces managed to get their hands on drone hardware that seems extremely similar to the ZTK-150 — a drone that China has banned sales of.

The MICH 2000 is the response to a floated deal to buy some ZTK-150s from China in 2023, despite an existing restriction on exports of the hardware. So that deal switched to selling the technology itself, something the visiting Ukrainian military bosses were interested in, but was also eventually refused by the factory management. So, the intermediaries dealing with the Ukrainians took a different approach, enabling the export of eight drones to an assembly point with no export restrictions and facilitating training.

Just an outline

While a ZTK-150 costs $50,000, the Ukrainian MICH 2000 is $48,000 for the basic craft, and its resemblance to the Chinese drone is purely skin-deep.

EuromaidenPress reports that the intermediaries assisted with a certain degree of espionage at the ZTK-150 assembly line, with a source quoted: “We came there to teach pilots to fly Chinese drones. And in parallel with the training, we photographed everything that was there. Everything from the production process to the arrangement of the shelves and cabinets. They flew home with trained pilots and eight Chinese drones.”

Reports indicate an anonymous builder is assembling around 6,000 MICH 2000s a year with a possible increase to 10,000, with customizations to suit particular missions. These include warhead types, fuel tanks, electronic countermeasure protection, and even a choice of analog, digital, and Starlink communication.

MICH 2000 drones look set to lead UAV strikes against Russian targets, perhaps even breaking the conflict’s deadlock.

Christian Cawley has extensive experience as a writer and editor in consumer electronics, IT and entertainment media. He has contributed to TechRadar since 2017 and has been published in Computer Weekly, Linux Format, ComputerActive, and other publications.

He currently heads up the team at smart home website Matter Alpha, and writes about retro gaming at Gaming Retro.