The Daily Populous Tuesday April 8th, 2025 evening edition
Authored by abc.net.au and submitted by Party_Storage_9147

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his country's troops have captured two Chinese citizens who were fighting with the Russian army in eastern Ukraine.

In a post on the encrypted messaging service Telegram, Mr Zelenskyy claimed to have information about "significantly more Chinese citizens" serving in Russian military units, and said he'd ordered his foreign minister to contact Beijing.

Last year, North Korean troops joined Russian battalions to fight in the country's Kursk region, in what was seen as a major escalation by Ukraine and its allies.

Mr Zelenskyy's claims have not been independently verified.

It's also not clear whether the Chinese citizens were fighting in an official capacity, or whether they'd joined Russian ranks voluntarily, as multiple foreign nationals have done with Ukraine's military.

His post was accompanied by a video of a man with his hands tied interacting with someone behind the camera.

While Beijing and Moscow are allies, China has repeatedly claimed it has not supplied military aid to Russia during the course of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which was launched in February 2022.

However, it has faced allegations it has been supplying Russia with military equipment, including attack drones.

The development has the potential to affect ceasefire negotiations underway in an attempt to end the conflict.

"Russia's involvement, directly or indirectly, in this war in Europe is a clear signal that Putin is going to do anything, except end the war," Mr Zelenskyy wrote in the post.

" He is looking for a way to continue fighting. This definitely requires a reaction. A reaction from the United States, Europe, and everyone in the world who wants peace. "

Mr Zelenskyy claims the two men captured had Chinese identity documents on them, including bank cards.

He claimed they were part of a group of six Chinese troops. It is not clear what happened to the other four.

Speaking to journalists later in the day, Mr Zelenskyy said it was particularly concerning the Chinese troops had been found on Ukrainian soil, as opposed to the North Koreans, who'd been fighting on Russian territory against a surprise attack from Kyiv's forces.

"I think that this is an important moment which we must discuss with our partners, and I believe urgently," he said.

"I know that we're a strong country, but we cannot fight so many countries at once, that all need something on our land."

A year into the Ukraine War, Beijing put forward a 12-point peace plan, while Chinese President Xi Jinping last year proposed four principles to stop the war and restore peace.

But while Xi has repeatedly met with and even hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin, he's only spoken to Mr Zelenskyy on the phone.

Kyiv and the former White House administration have accused China of supplying Moscow with dual-use items, which can be used for military or civilian purposes.

But in September last year, then-US deputy secretary of state Kurt Campbell went as far as saying China was supplying Moscow with "direct support" in exchange for sharing military know-how and technology.

"These are not dual-use capabilities ... These are component pieces of a very substantial effort on the part of China to help sustain, build and diversify various elements of the Russian war machine," Mr Campbell said at the time.

Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin shake hands at the BRICS summit in October. (Pool: Maxim Shipenkov via Reuters)

In a post on the social media platform X, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said he had summoned China's chargé d'affaires to explain the situation.

"We strongly condemn Russia's involvement of Chinese citizens in its war of aggression against Ukraine, as well as their participation in combat against Ukrainian forces," Mr Sybiha's post read.

A chargé d'affaires is a title given to a senior international diplomat who's not an ambassador.

"Chinese citizens fighting as part of Russia's invasion army in Ukraine puts into question China's declared stance for peace and undermines Beijing's credibility as a responsible permanent member of the UN Security Council," Mr Sybiha's post read.

It's alleged the Chinese soldiers were captured in Ukraine's Donetsk region, a significant part of which is under Russian control.

Putin's 'crazy' ceasefire demands akin to British 'reoccupying' NSW Photo shows Russian President Vladimir Putin smiles The Russian President reportedly wants Ukraine to cede territory his troops have never occupied as part of negotiations taking place to end the war, which continues to rage despite multiple summits.

John Lough, an associate fellow at London-based think tank Chatham House, warned Mr Zelenskyy's claims should be treated "cautiously".

"I think that we should remember that there were over 90 Indians last year who were fighting in the Russian army and in fact were duped into joining the army and were sent to the front in Ukraine and the Indian government had to exert I think quite a lot of efforts to get them out," he said.

"We don't know how these these two individuals that President Zelensky referred to ended up fighting for the Russian army.

"I'm not going to, at this stage, conclude that this is a major development in the war."

He said the Chinese government had been careful to distance itself from Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"The paradox is that without Chinese economic assistance, it's unlikely the Russian army would have kept fighting the way it is, because Chinese components, various forms of equipment and other goods that have been exported to Russia have helped the economy to continue functioning in conditions of really severe Western sanctions.

"So China talks a good game here around peace, but some of its actions suggest that It certainly doesn't want to abandon Russia as a close ally."

roronoapedro on April 8th, 2025 at 15:37 UTC »

so it's like, soldiers born in china, not chinese soldiers. that's important.

Degeneratus-one on April 8th, 2025 at 13:27 UTC »

It’s Chinese mercs enlisting to the Russian army. Not actual Chinese soldiers

xavras_wyzryn on April 8th, 2025 at 13:11 UTC »

There have been Chinese mercenaries in Ukraine since the start of the war, that’s nothing new. I even saw a PLA veteran filming and doing some sort of video blog on his Chinese social media account.