Ukraine captures Chinese citizens who fought with Russian army, Zelenskyy says

The Ukrainian military has captured two Chinese citizens whom it said fought with the Russian army, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement Tuesday.

The Ukrainian military has captured two Chinese citizens who fought with the Russian army, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday.

The Chinese nationals were captured in the eastern Donetsk region and were being held by Ukraine’s security service, Zelenskyy said in a post on Telegram, without providing evidence. He added that intelligence indicated that there were “significantly more Chinese citizens in the units of the occupier than two.”

If the identities of the captured individuals and the existence of more are confirmed, it would suggest that a third nation, after North Korea, has begun sending military personnel to aid the Kremlin’s effort in its three-year-long invasion of Ukraine.

That, at a time when the United States — Ukraine’s largest military backer — is attempting to broker peace between Kyiv and Moscow and wind down its financial involvement in the war, while also escalating an increasingly vicious trade war with Beijing.

While the Kremlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment, China's foreign ministry said Wednesday that it is verifying the reports of its nationals being captured in Ukraine, according to Reuters.