The president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, reported on Tuesday that two Chinese soldiers were captured during a series of fighting against the Russian army in Donetsk province, in the east of the country, and said there are information that aimed that a large number of Chinese citizens would be fighting with the Russian troops in the area.
“Our army has captured two Chinese citizens who were fighting with the Russian forces. This has happened in the Ukrainian territory of Donetsk and have documents that identify them: bank cards and personal data that were among their belongings,” said the president.
In this sense, there could be “many more citizens” among the “ranks of the occupation.” “We are verifying all intelligence and army units that are being in charge of investigating this situation,” Zelenski explained in a message spread through social networks.
Zelenski also indicated that “the involvement of China, together with that of other countries, either directly or indirectly, is a clear sign that (Vladimir) Putin wants to make everything except to end war.”
Thus, he declared that the Russian president “only seeks to continue the fight”, which deserves “a definitive response from the United States, European and all those in the world who want peace.”
Zelenski pointed out that the captured soldiers are now under custody of the Ukraine Security Service (SBU) – the Ukrainian intelligence – and announced the opening of an investigation in this regard.
Subsequently, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andri Sibiga, issued a brief note in which, first, he expressed his “energetic” condemnation of the participation of Chinese citizens in the conflict and warned that this “calls into question” the position in favor of the peace that Beijing has always defended.
In turn, he considered that “the credibility” of China as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and that is why kyiv summoned the Chinese business manager in Ukraine to the Ministry’s headquarters “to express the conviction for these facts and demand an explanation.”
