Beijing rejects Ukraine's claim significant numbers of Chinese troops
are fighting alongside Russia
[April 09, 2025]
By The Associated Press
Ukraine’s claim that significant numbers of Chinese nationals are
fighting alongside Russia’s invading army is “totally unfounded,” a
Beijing official said Wednesday.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Tuesday that the
Ukrainian military had captured two Chinese men fighting alongside the
Russian army in the eastern Donetsk region and had information that
“significantly more” are with Russian forces.
It was the first time that Ukraine had made such a claim about Chinese
fighters on its soil amid Russia’s almost three-year invasion.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said in Beijing that
China has played a “constructive role in politically resolving the
Ukraine crisis.”
Lin told a daily news briefing Wednesday that “the Chinese government
always asks Chinese citizens to stay away from conflict zones, avoid
getting involved in any form of armed conflict, and especially refrain
from participating in any party’s military operations.”
His comments appeared to indicate that the captured Chinese had joined
Russia’s ranks on their own initiative.
China has provided strong diplomatic support for Russia since Moscow
launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.
Beijing has also offered an economic lifeline through the trade in
energy and consumer goods, but has not knowingly provided Russia with
troops, weapons or military expertise.
It put forward a vague peace plan that was swiftly dismissed by most
observers.
Previously, Ukraine and the United States have said that thousands of
North Korean troops have helped Russia under an agreement between the
Kremlin and the government in Pyongyang.
Both Russia and Ukraine allow foreign soldiers to enlist.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said at a briefing in
Washington on Tuesday that the U.S. was “aware” of the reports that
Chinese citizens fighting on behalf of Russia were caught in Ukraine and
called them “disturbing.”
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In this photo provided by Ukraine's 65th Mechanised Brigade press
service, a Ukrainian serviceman prepares to fire a multiple launch
rocket system based on a pickup truck in the Zaporizhzhia region,
Ukraine, Tuesday, April 8, 2025, (Andriy Andriyenko/Ukraine's 65th
Mechanised Brigade via AP)
“China is a major enabler of Russia in the war in Ukraine,” Bruce
said. China provides nearly 80% of the dual-use items Russia needs
to sustain the war, she claimed.
Tensions between Washington and Beijing have escalated in recent
years amid disputes over trade, technology and geopolitical
competition.
The Kremlin has effectively rejected a U.S. proposal for an
immediate and full 30-day halt in the fighting in Ukraine. The Kyiv
government has consented to it. Both sides are believed to be
readying spring-summer military campaigns.
In the meantime, both countries have kept fighting a war of
attrition along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line
and targeted each other with long-range strikes.
The city of Kramatorsk in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk endured a
“massive drone attack” overnight, regional head Vadym Filashkin
said, injuring an 11-year-old girl, her mother and her grandmother.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 55 Shahed and decoy drones
at the country overnight.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 158
Ukrainian drones over 11 Russian regions overnight but reported no
casualties or damage.
Several Russian regions temporarily suspended flights at their
airports because of the attack, however, and some Ukrainian drones
reached Russia’s Orenburg region in the southern Urals located
nearly 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) east of the Ukrainian border,
the Defense Ministry said.
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Christopher Bodeen contributed from Taipei, Taiwan.
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