Two Chinese nationals fighting on behalf of Russia were taken prisoner by Ukrainian military forces, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Tuesday.
The prisoners’ nationalities were identified after their bank cards and personal documents were discovered, Zelensky confirmed.
“We have information that there are many more Chinese citizens in the occupier’s units than just two. We are now finding out all the facts,” Zelensky said in a post on Telegram. “I have instructed the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine to immediately contact Beijing and find out how China is going to react to this.”
“Russia’s involvement of China in this war in Europe, directly or indirectly, is a clear signal that Putin is going to do anything except end the war. He is looking for ways to continue fighting,” Zelensky added.
China’s chargé d’affaires in Ukraine was summoned following the discovery, according to Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.
Sybiha reportedly demanded Beijing “condemn this fact and demand[ed] an explanation.”
China, according to CNN, is “currently verifying” Ukraine’s claim.
“It is important to emphasize that the Chinese government has always instructed its citizens to stay away from areas of armed conflict and avoid getting involved in the conflict in any form, especially avoiding participation in any party’s military operations,” Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said in a press conference on Wednesday.
Foreign nationals fighting for Russia
This would not be the first time that Russia has used foreign soldiers in its invasion of Ukraine. A number of Indian nationals were reportedly duped into fighting for Moscow.
A human trafficking network extending from New Delhi in the north to the southern state of Tamil Nadu used social media platforms and local agents to lure people to Russia by offering them lucrative jobs or admission to what India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) called "dubious private universities," Reuters reported. Once they reached Russia, however, the victims' passports were taken, and they were trained in combat roles before being deployed at the front.
Dozens of Indians have since been released from the Russian military service, BBC News reported in September, following intervention from Indian authorities.
Similarly, thousands of North Korean soldiers have been wiped out while fighting for Russia in Ukraine, according to White House estimates in December.
"It is clear that Russian and North Korean military leaders are treating these troops as expendable and ordering them on hopeless assaults against Ukrainian defenses," White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters, describing the North Korean troops' offensive as "massed, dismounted assaults."
Reuters contributed to this report.