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.
Neither the Chinese Embassy in Washington nor the Kremlin immediately responded to NBC News’ requests for comment.
Zelenskyy said he had instructed the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry to immediately contact Beijing and find out “how China is going to react to this.”
The Ukrainian leader suggested the incident was a “clear signal that Russian President Vladimir Putin is going to do anything, except end the war,” as efforts to negotiate a ceasefire deal in Ukraine continue.
“He is looking for a way to continue fighting,” Zelenskyy said. “This definitely requires a reaction — a reaction from the United States, Europe, and everyone in the world who wants peace.”
Putin, who has ruled Russia for all but four of the past 25 years, and Chinese President Xi Jinping — China’s leader since 2013 — have long maintained a close alliance.
In a call on the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February, Xi affirmed his country’s “no limits” partnership in a phone call with Putin, Chinese state media reported at the time.
The leaders spoke even as President Donald Trump pushed for a swift deal to end the Ukraine war.
“China-Russia relations have strong internal driving force and unique strategic value, and are not aimed at, nor are they influenced by, any third party,” said Xi, according to the official readout published by Chinese state media.
Both China and Russia also maintain a strong working relationship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, who has already sent at least 11,000 soldiers to the front in eastern Ukraine.
Around 4,000 North Korean troops are believed to have been killed or injured in Ukraine, according to an estimate by South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff late last month.
But the difference between North Korea — an impoverished and reclusive nation — and the world’s second largest economy and second-most populous country being involved in a war on Europe’s doorstep would be difficult to understate.
Kyiv’s claims about Chinese personnel fighting for Moscow come the same day as six U.S. and European officials been briefed on the matter told NBC News that senior Defense Department officials are considering a proposal to withdraw as many as 10,000 troops from Eastern Europe.
The Trump administration has gone to significant lengths to spell out its antipathy to funding the security of America’s democratic allies in Europe.
While European governments have made a flurry of ambitious pledges to ramp up their military spending, analysts have said that a rapid U.S. retreat from the continent before those spending plans have fully taken effect would leave those nations exposed to further potential landgrabs by Putin.
During rounds of peace talks in Saudi Arabia led by his envoys, Trump has also touted his relationship with Putin.
That said, the President recently said he was “very angry” and “pissed off” with Putin for casting doubt on the legitimacy of Zelenskyy’s mandate to govern Ukraine.
Following those comments Putin last week sent close ally Kirill Dmitriev to Washington this month for diplomatic talks. Dmitriev is the most senior Kremlin official to visit since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
With Trump and Xi continuing to introduce ever-higher tariffs on importing goods from each other’s countries — the former’s announcement of sweeping global levies has hammered financial markets in recent days — relations between Washington and Beijing have soured even further in recent days.
In an interview last week with Fox News, Vice President J.D. Vance said of American trade with China that “we borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture.”
China’s foreign ministry spokesperson responded Tuesday saying “it is both astonishing and saddening to hear the vice president say such ignorant and impolite words.”
If Beijing is confirmed to have sent troops to Ukraine, there may be more strong rhetoric in store.
