Zelenskyy says at least 155 Chinese citizens fighting for Russia in Ukraine | Russia-Ukraine, news war

The Chinese Foreign Ministry says it is not justified to indicate that many Chinese citizens are fighting in Ukraine.

President Voludmir Zelinski said that Ukrainian intelligence has information about 155 Chinese citizens Fighting for the Russian army Against Ukraine, the real number is likely to be much higher.

Zelinski told Kiev on Wednesday that Russia is recruiting Chinese citizens on social media and that Chinese officials were familiar with efforts. He added that Ukraine was trying to evaluate whether the recruits were receiving instructions from Beijing.

“The” Chinese issue “is dangerous. There are 155 people, with the names and passports, who are fighting against the Ukrainians on the territory of Ukraine. “We think there are many of them.”

Zelinski said on Tuesday that the Ukrainian army had it The capture of two Chinese men Fighting along with the Russian army on Ukrainian soil. This was the first time that Ukraine has made such a claim to Chinese fighters in the war.
On Wednesday, Zelinski said he was ready to exchange a prisoner of war for Ukrainian soldiers who were held in Russia.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lynn Jian told a press conference earlier on Wednesday that the proposal that many Chinese citizens were fighting in Ukraine was “unfounded.”

“The Chinese government has always requested its citizens to stay away from the areas of armed conflict (and) to avoid participating in armed conflicts in any way,” he said, adding that Beijing was checking the relevant information with Kiev.

Russia did not comment on this issue.

China provides itself as a neutral party in the conflict and says it does not send deadly assistance to either side, unlike the United States and other western countries.

But Beijing has provided strong diplomatic support to Russia since Moscow has launched its large -scale invasion to its neighbor in February 2022 and has provided an economic lifeline through energy trade and consumer goods.

American officials accused Iran of providing Russia with drones, while US and South Korea officials say Thousands of forces And ammunition to help Russia in the battlefield.

With the United States and Europe providing great military support and diplomatic vulnerability to Ukraine, the war has become somewhat a competition between power blocs.

On Tuesday, Zelinski said that the Ukrainian forces had seized the Chinese citizens fighting with the Russian forces in the Donetsk region.

The media, Okrinska Pravda, who cited the Ukrainian army, reported that one of the prisoners paid $ 3480 to a mediator in China to join the Russian army because he wanted to obtain Russian citizenship.

According to what was said that the prisoner, who is now cooperating with the Ukrainian authorities, said that he was trained in the Russian Luhansk region as part of a group of Chinese citizens, and some of them were legal issues in the homeland, according to Okrinska Braveda.