President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Tuesday the capture of two Chinese nationals reportedly fighting for the Russian Armed Forces in the first update of its kind.
Zelensky, in a Telegram update that includes the interrogation of one of the Chinese men captured, said the two soldiers were captured in Ukraine’s Donetsk region with their personal documents, including bank cards.
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Zelensky said Kyiv is aware of more Chinese nationals fighting for Moscow, adding that Ukrainian authorities are working to establish the situation.
“We have information that there are significantly more Chinese citizens in the occupier’s units than two. We are currently clarifying all the facts. Intelligence, the [Security Service of Ukraine] SBU, and the relevant units of the Armed Forces are working,” Zelensky said, adding that the two men are under the SBU’s custody.
Zelensky did not disclose when the men were captured nor the circumstances of their capture.
In the video, one of the Chinese troops captured described how his commander was hit on the front using a mix of Mandarin Chinese, English and presumably Russian.
Though the man was speaking in Chinese in the video, the video file from Zelensky’s update was named “0804_Korean_Soldier 2” for unspecified reasons.
At first, the man could be seen mimicking drones flying overhead before explaining that his commander was hit.
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“Vroom vroom… boom boom boom boom boom… and then my commander… ‘Boom,” where he then mimicked the explosions and subsequent injuries for both him and his commander.
Kyiv Post has reached out to the Chinese Embassy in Kyiv for comments but has not received an immediate response.
A number of Chinese nationals have claimed they fought for Russia after Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Some have been active on social media, sharing their firsthand accounts of the war.
In one instance in October 2024, a Chinese mercenary known as “Dian Yuzhan” on social media (meaning “prison warden” in Chinese) claimed that eight North Korean officers were killed in action during their first day of deployment in Ukraine.
The man made the comment during a live broadcast with another Chinese mercenary who has reportedly returned to China after fighting for Russia in Ukraine.
In the video, the other mercenary could be heard criticizing the poor command of the Russian military when he said, “commanders’ failure is a norm” across different units.
In another instance, a Chinese man in Russian military uniform could be seen describing his meal – instant ramen – in a video in Mandarin Chinese, with Russian dialogue in the background, suggesting that he was fighting alongside Russian troops in an unidentified location in Ukraine.
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