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Zelensky accuses China: ‘More than 150 citizens enlisted by Russia’

Hypotheses about the presence of Chinese nationals among Russian forces in Ukraine: escape from China, intelligence gathering on the battlefield or preparation for intervention in the conflict.

Zelensky raises the tone against Beijing, accusing China of allowing the involvement of more than 150 of its citizens in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. According to the Ukrainian president, these are individuals who allegedly served in the Russian armed forces, fuelling an increasingly visible foreign presence on the battlefield.

Beijing called the claims ‘irresponsible’ and unfounded. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian rejected the accusations, calling on Kiev to ‘properly assess’ the Chinese role, which Beijing said was aimed at a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

According to CNN, the Ukrainian security services have allegedly drawn up a document with the names of more than 150 Chinese citizens who were recruited in Russia, with contracts dating back to 2024. The news has not been independently verified, but it raises the question of China’s real role in the war in Ukraine. Zelensky pointed out: ‘The actual number is higher. And we know that these are not isolated cases’.

The Kremlin responded by denying any official Chinese involvement, accusing Zelensky of trying to drag Beijing into the conflict. Yet, according to analyses by the New York Times and the Independent, China has strengthened its alliance with Russia over the years, supporting it economically, technologically, and diplomatically, in a partnership that the two leaders describe as ‘limitless’.

The suspicion that Chinese nationals are acting as mercenaries or field agents fuels complex scenarios. According to speculation in the international media, they could be:

men fleeing China in search of easy income;
personnel recruited informally to test tactics and gather military intelligence;
a disguised approach to direct involvement of the People’s Republic.

The presence of foreigners in the Russian ranks is nothing new: thousands of volunteers and mercenaries, especially North Koreans, fight for Moscow. According to Le Monde, many would enter Russia as tourists and then sign renewable one-year contracts.

Even in China, the phenomenon would no longer be underground: an analysis on Douyin – the local version of TikTok – would reveal dozens of accounts attributable to Chinese citizens engaged in the conflict alongside the Russian army.

For Zelensky, the involvement of Chinese citizens ‘is widening an already serious geopolitical problem’, raising questions about Beijing’s real strategic intentions in the heart of the most dramatic European conflict of the last thirty years.

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