MOSCOW — Ukraine will halt the takeover of an aircraft engine maker by a Chinese company, responding to U.S. objections over the prospect of important military technology falling into Beijing’s hands.
Kyiv plans to return Motor Sich to Ukrainian control, ending efforts by Beijing Skyrizon Aviation to take management of the company, following a yearslong battle over the manufacturer’s fate.
“The Motor Sich enterprise will be returned to the Ukrainian people,” Oleksiy Danilov, head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said after a March 11 meeting. “It will be returned to the ownership of the Ukrainian state in a legal, constitutional way in the near future.”
The decision angered China, which has grown increasingly important economically to Ukraine since Kyiv’s relationship with Moscow broke down following Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. But when tensions between…
