TAIPEI, Taiwan — The Ukrainian security service has evidence that more than 150 Chinese citizens are fighting alongside Russian troops, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, following the capture of two Chinese soldiers in eastern Ukraine.
Zelenskyy, in a post on X, said Ukraine was working to verify all the details concerning the two captured Chinese soldiers and others with Russia’s invading forces.
“Ukraine believes that such blatant involvement of Chinese citizens in hostilities on the territory of Ukraine during the war of aggression is a deliberate step towards the expansion of the war and is yet another indication that Moscow simply needs to drag out the fighting,” Zelenskyy said Wednesday.
“This definitely requires a response,” he said.
On April 8, Ukraine said the Chinese soldiers were captured in the Donetsk Oblast region of eastern Ukraine. Identification documents, bank cards, and other personal information were found on them. The captured Chinese nationals are being held by the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU.
Zelenskyy did not say the Chinese nationals had been sent by Beijing, but Ukraine’s foreign minister summoned the Chinese chargé d’affaires to protest and demand an explanation.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told journalists that China was still “verifying the relevant situation with Ukraine.”
“The Chinese government has always required its citizens to stay away from armed conflict areas, avoid being involved in armed conflicts in any form, and especially avoid participating in any military operations of any party,” he said.
The U.S. and South Korea have estimated that North Korea, an ally of Russia and China, has sent as many as 12,000 troops to serve in Russia’s Kursk region, which was partly occupied by a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the presence of Chinese soldiers in Ukraine “undermines Beijing’s credibility as a responsible permanent member of the UN Security Council.”
U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce described the reports as “disturbing” and said that cooperation between nuclear powers China and Russia would increase global instability.
“China is a major enabler of Russia in the war in Ukraine,” she said. “China provides nearly 80 percent of the dual-use items Russia needs to sustain the war.”
This month, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi met President Vladimir Putin in Moscow and told Russian state media that China was ready to play a “constructive role” in resolving the war.
Beijing professes a neutral stance on the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv. It also supplies Russia with electronic components which could be used in weapons systems.
Edited by Mike Firn and Stephen Wright.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Alan Lu for RFA.