Two Chinese soldiers captured during fighting in eastern Ukraine, Zelenskyy says | World News

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says two Chinese soldiers have been captured while fighting in eastern Ukraine.

He said his forces had fought six Chinese soldiers and two of them had been taken prisoner. He added he had ordered officials to obtain an explanation from Beijing.

“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,” he added.

Follow latest: Zelenskyy demands reaction from US

China is an ally of Russia and has been accused of helping its war in Ukraine, though Beijing has repeatedly denied allegations that it has supplied Kremlin forces with weapons.

“Russia’s involvement of China in this war in Europe, directly or indirectly, is a clear signal that Putin is going to do anything but end the war,” Mr Zelenskyy said. “He is looking for ways to continue the war.”

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Mr Zelenskyy described China as having joined Russia’s war against Ukraine and said he expected the US to react.

‘This could be very, very embarrassing for China’

There will be different consequences for the war in Ukraine depending on the identity and allegiances of the Chinese soldiers captured, analyst Michael Clarke says.

“If they are just Chinese individuals who are fighting effectively as mercenaries, then that’s obviously embarrassing to China. But in a way, it goes no further than that,” he says.

Clarke says if the soldiers are operating on Chinese state orders, it would cross “quite a big legal line” and be “very, very embarrassing” for Beijing.

“That would mean that the Chinese are sending individuals to fight in a contested area to join an invasion of a foreign country,” he says.

“The Chinese would pretend that that isn’t the truth. And the Russians would say that Donetsk is Russian territory, but legally, of course, it isn’t.

“It’s Ukrainian territory, and it has been since 1991.”

Fighters of various nationalities have joined Russia’s army during the war, often in return for promises of large sums of money. This does not represent official interventions by their home countries.

North Korea has also sent thousands of its troops to support Russia.

Last night, Mr Zelenskyy confirmed for the first time that Ukrainian forces are active in Russia’s Belgorod region.

He described the actions as “just”, adding: “war must return to where it came from”.