Kyiv, Ukraine CNN —
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said two Chinese nationals fighting in the Russian army have been taken prisoner in eastern Ukraine.
Zelensky said Tuesday that Ukrainian forces fighting in the Donetsk region obtained the Chinese nationals’ documents, bank cards and personal data.
“We have information that there are many more Chinese citizens in the occupier’s units than just two. We are now finding out all the facts,” Zelensky said in a post on Telegram. “I have instructed the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine to immediately contact Beijing and find out how China is going to react to this.”
“Russia’s involvement of China in this war in Europe, directly or indirectly, is a clear signal that Putin is going to do anything except end the war. He is looking for ways to continue fighting,” Zelensky added.
It is unclear if the Chinese nationals that Ukraine says it captured are Chinese soldiers or volunteers.
The Ukrainian president also called on its allies in the United States and Europe to protest.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Tuesday that Kyiv has summoned Beijing’s chargé d’affaires in Ukraine “to condemn this fact and demand an explanation.”
CNN has reached out to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.
China has helped Russia ramp up its defense industrial base as it continues its war against Ukraine, senior Biden administration officials told CNN last year.
The support China has provided includes significant quantities of machine tools, drone and turbojet engines and technology for cruise missiles, microelectronics, and nitrocellulose, which Russia uses to make propellant for weapons, the officials said in April 2024.
Meanwhile, Russia has also considerably strengthened its military relationship with North Korea over the last year, with the two signing a mutual defense agreement and Pyongyang sending its troops to fight for Moscow in its invasion of Ukraine.
In January, Ukrainian forces operating in the Kursk region of Russia captured two North Korean soldiers.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
