Chinese nationals captured fighting for Russia in Ukraine, Zelenskyy says

A Russian and Chinese national flag flutter near Tiananmen Gate for the visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Beijing, Thursday, May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

KYIV, UKRAINE — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that Ukrainian forces had captured two Chinese men fighting for Russia in eastern Ukraine, potentially threatening a fragile peace effort in the three-year-old war.

Beijing is a close diplomatic ally of Moscow but is not publicly known to have directly aided in the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion, which U.S. President Donald Trump is seeking to swiftly end.

Writing on X, where he posted a video of one of the alleged men, Zelenskyy said Kyiv has “information suggesting that there are many more Chinese citizens” fighting. He did not say whether Ukraine believed the men were acting on Beijing’s orders.

“Russia’s involvement of China, along with other countries, whether directly or indirectly, in this war in Europe is a clear signal that Putin intends to do anything but end the war,” he wrote.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on what would be the first publicly announced case of Chinese nationals captured fighting for Russia in Ukraine. Reuters could not independently verify the claims.

Writing on social media, Andriy Kovalenko, a member of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, called the captured fighters “mercenaries” but offered no other details. Russia has used Iranian drones as well as North Korean missiles and artillery shells since its February 2022 invasion.

Kyiv also says Pyongyang’s troops have been deployed to fight Ukrainian forces in parts of Russia’s western Kursk region, where Ukraine staged a lightning incursion last summer.

“But there is a difference: the North Koreans were fighting on the Kursk front against us,” Zelenskyy said in a joint briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday with Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever. “The Chinese are fighting on the territory of Ukraine.”

Russia has not yet publicly commented on Zelenskyy’s claim about Chinese fighters, nor has it explicitly confirmed using North Korean troops in its Kursk region.

Tougher stance

Zelenskyy, who said the men were carrying documents confirming their identities, told reporters he hoped their capture would prompt the U.S. to take a tougher stance on Russia during a peace process to end the fighting.

U.S. and Russian officials have in recent weeks engaged in bilateral talks, drawing criticism from Ukraine which is suspicious of the Trump administration’s conciliatory stance toward the Kremlin.

“I think the U.S. needs to pay more attention to what’s happening today,” Zelenskyy said. He added that Ukrainian forces had engaged six Chinese fighters in total.

“We really hope that after this situation, Americans will talk more with Ukrainians, and then with Russians.”

In a separate statement, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Kyiv had summoned China’s chargé d’affaires in Ukraine “to condemn this fact and demand an explanation.”

China, which declared a “no limits” strategic partnership with Russia days before Moscow’s invasion, has said it is ready to play a role in settling the war in Ukraine.

By Yuliia Dysa and Dan Peleschuk

(Additional reporting by Anna Voitenko; Editing by Alison Williams, Peter Graff and Sharon Singleton)