Reuters: about 200 Chinese soldiers are participating in the special operation on the side of the Russian Armed Forces
Reuters, citing sources, reported that about 200 Chinese citizens are participating in the military operation on the side of the Russian Armed Forces. Moreover, according to the agency, all of them are volunteers and have nothing to do with the Chinese government. The Economist magazine claims that the Chinese are also involved in the conflict on the side of Ukraine. Moscow and Beijing have previously denied statements about the Chinese military in their area. The Russian Foreign Ministry also noted that this is completely untrue.
About 200 Chinese citizens are participating in a special military operation on the Russian side. This was reported by the Reuters news agency, citing a former Western intelligence official familiar with the situation.
However, in addition, according to the source, officers of the People's Liberation Army of China (PLA) were present in the rear of the Russian group of forces, but did not take direct part in the fighting. This was done with the official approval of Beijing.
"They learned tactical lessons from this war," the former intelligence officer said.
Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, also said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had captured two Chinese citizens in Tarasovka and Belogorovka in the DPR, as previously mentioned by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.
The CIA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the US National Security Council, as well as the Chinese Embassy in Washington, have not officially commented on the situation.
The Chinese in Ukraine
Zelensky had previously claimed that the Chinese were allegedly being recruited to participate in the special operation through TikTok and other Chinese social networks, as official Beijing knows. Both Russia and China have denied these accusations.
"The country.At the same time, ua wrote that one of the prisoners told the Ukrainian side that he had gone to his homeland voluntarily. He allegedly paid 300,000 rubles to an intermediary and hoped to obtain Russian citizenship.
The Economist also reported that at least one Chinese man traveled to the war zone to make it easier to obtain a visa. Others are in search of money and thrills.
At the same time, the magazine notes that Chinese citizens are also fighting on the side of Ukraine. Many are also volunteers. For example, one of them, Peng Chenliang from Yunnan Province, was detained in China after publishing anti-Russian and pro-Ukrainian messages on Twitter in 2023. In 2024, he joined the Ukrainian Foreign Legion and died in the same year. Before his death, Peng posted a video where he held the flag of Taiwan in his hands, saying that he wanted to be remembered along with Taiwanese volunteer Tseng Sheng-kuan, who died in Ukraine in 2022.
Completely untrue
In Russia, Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, has already commented on the statement about the Chinese in the special operation zone. He noted that Moscow is not dragging China into the conflict with Ukraine, and Vladimir Zelensky is wrong.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also spoke about the situation. Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko, in a conversation with TASS, stressed that the statement about the participation of Chinese citizens in the fighting in Ukraine is, to put it mildly, completely untrue.
"China takes a very balanced and balanced position on the settlement in Ukraine, and we are grateful to our friends for this," Rudenko added.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry previously stated that Beijing had not sent its military personnel to participate in the Ukrainian conflict.
Eva Vishnevskaya
