Beijing Rebuffs ‘Irresponsible Remarks’ on Chinese Soldiers in Ukraine

Beijing asked “relevant parties” on Thursday to “refrain from expressing irresponsible remarks” on Kyiv’s captured Chinese fighters who fought for the Russian Armed Forces.

Beijing’s foreign ministry made the comment at a regular news briefing in response to a question about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s recent remarks that “155 [Chinese] people with names and passport details who are fighting against Ukrainians on the territory of Ukraine.”

“We would advise the relevant parties to recognize China’s role correctly and clear-headedly,” the ministry’s spokesman Lin Jian said without mentioning Ukraine or Zelensky by name, according to AFP.

The developments came after Zelensky announced the capture of two Chinese nationals fighting for Russia in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday.

Lin said on Wednesday that it is verifying the information with the Ukrainian side while dismissing claims that “many” Chinese fighters are fighting Ukraine as “absolutely groundless.”

On Wednesday, Zelensky described the “Chinese issue” as “serious” in a comment to reporters and blamed Moscow for dragging China into the war.

“Such an overt involvement of Chinese citizens in combat operations on the territory of Ukraine is a deliberate step towards expanding the war,” Zelensky said, adding that Russia recruited Chinese fighters via social media in China.

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“This is the second mistake for Russia. The first was North Korea. They drag other countries into war. I believe that they are now dragging China into this war,” he added.

Zelensky’s comments marked a slight backtrack in Kyiv’s comments to Beijing after Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha questioned Beijing’s involvement in a comment on Tuesday, after Zelensky’s announcement.

“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,” Sybiha said on X at the time.

Ukrainska Pravda, citing the communications department of Ukraine’s operational-tactical group “Luhansk,” said one of the captured Chinese fighters paid 300,000 rubles ($3,518) to enlist in the Russian Armed Forces, where he hoped to become an officer and obtain Russian citizenship.

In a video released by Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) on Wednesday after the two’s capture, one of them, an unemployed 34-year-old man, said he was recruited directly in China by a Russian representative before arriving in Moscow in February where he signed a contract to serve in Russia’s armed forces.