Copper adsorption on Ru(0001) has been studied by synchrotron radiation. The clean Ru 3d 5/2 spectra were found to consist of two components with a binding energy shift of 400 meV. The component with the lower binding energy represents the first layer of ruthenium atoms. Adsorption of copper gives rise to core level shifts of the Ru 3d 5/2 components, which were studied as a function of Cu coverage. Experiments were carried out with copper coverages varying from the submonolayer range up to two monolayers of copper. The binding energy of the Cu 2p 3/2 level was measured by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy.