US calls for Chinese men to report Chinese people fighting for Russia in Ukraine “disturbing” – Country
Ukrainian forces captured two Chinese in eastern Ukraine to fight for Russia, potentially threatening vulnerable peace efforts in the three-year-old war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday.
Beijing is a close diplomatic ally of Moscow, but does not publicly and directly aid the Kremlin's full-scale invasion, and U.S. President Donald Trump attempted to end it quickly.
Zelenskyy wrote an article on X about one of the alleged men, saying there was a fight with “information that shows there are more Chinese citizens”. He did not say whether Ukraine believed that these people were following Beijing's orders.
“In this war in Europe, Russia's participation with other countries and other countries is a clear signal that Putin intends to do anything outside the war,” he wrote.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment on the first publicly announced case of Chinese national case capturing a fight for Russia in Ukraine. Reuters cannot independently verify the claim.
Andriy Kovalenko, a member of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Commission, wrote on social media that the captured fighter mercenaries were called the captives, but no other details were provided.
Since February 2022, Russia has used Iranian drones as well as North Korea's missiles and artillery shells.
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Kiev also said Pyongyang's troops have been deployed to fight Ukrainian troops in parts of western Russia's Kursk region, which Ukraine carried out a lightning strike last summer.
“But there is a difference: the North Koreans are fighting us,” Zelenskyy said in a joint briefing with Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever on Tuesday. “The Chinese are fighting on Ukrainian territory.”
Russia has not yet publicly commented on Zelenskyy's claims about Chinese combatants, nor has it clearly confirmed the use of North Korean troops in its Kursk region.
U.S. State Department spokesman Tammy Bruce said the reports of Chinese nationals arrested in Ukraine were disturbing, but did not say whether Washington had verified the claim.
Bruce told reporters that the dual supply supply of China to Russia made it a major promoter of Russian war efforts, adding that cooperation between Moscow and Beijing contributed to global instability.
Bruce announced that the U.S. and Russia delegations will meet for the second time in Istanbul on April 10 to discuss “only” stabilizing bilateral embassy operations, but Ukraine is “absolutely not on the agenda.”
She added: “These negotiations are focused only on the actions of our embassy, not on the normal bilateral relations as a whole, which can only be as we have pointed out once there is peace between Russia and Ukraine.”
Zelenskyy said the men were carrying documents that confirmed their identity, and told reporters he hoped their captives would prompt the United States to take a tougher stance against Russia in the peace process to end the fight.
Ukraine's bilateral talks have been held in recent weeks, raising criticism from Ukraine, which has skeptical of the Trump administration's reconciliation stance.
“I think the United States needs to pay more attention to what is going on today,” Zelenskyy said, adding that Ukrainian forces were engaged to a total of six Chinese fighters.
“We really hope that in this case, Americans will talk to Ukrainians and then Russians.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in another statement that Kiev convened China's allegations in Ukraine “condemn this fact and demand an explanation.”
China announced a strategic partnership with Russia a few days before the Moscow invasion, and he said he was ready to play a role in Ukraine's settlement of the war.
