President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that Ukrainian intelligence had information about 155 Chinese citizens fighting for the Russian military against Ukraine.
Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv that Russia was recruiting Chinese citizens via social media and that Chinese officials were aware of that. He added that Ukraine was trying to assess whether the recruits were receiving instructions from Beijing.
Zelenskyy also said Russia was “dragging” China into its war.
“This is the second mistake for Russia. The first was North Korea. They drag other countries into war. I believe that they are now dragging China into this war,” he said, adding Ukraine was ready to exchange two Chinese POWs for captured Ukrainian soldiers.
A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry said earlier China was verifying the situation with Ukraine, adding that its government had always required its citizens to avoid areas of armed conflict and “especially to avoid participating in the military operations of any party.”
