KYIV: President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that Ukrainian troops had captured two Chinese citizens fighting alongside Russian forces, adding that Kyiv would demand an explanation from Beijing and a reaction from its allies. Moscow and Beijing have deepened political, military and economic cooperation since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
"Our military captured two Chinese citizens who fought in the Russian army. This happened on the territory of Ukraine -- in the Donetsk region," Zelensky said in a post on social media. "We have the documents of these prisoners, bank cards, and personal data," Zelensky said in a post that included a video of one of the alleged Chinese prisoners. US President Donald Trump has been pushing for a speedy end to the more than three-year war since taking office but his administration has failed to reach a breakthrough despite rounds of negotiations.
Kyiv has repeatedly urged Beijing to pressure Moscow to end its attack that has cost tens of thousands of lives and yet still so far failed to see the Kremlin achieve its core objectives. Zelensky said Kyiv had evidence that "many more Chinese citizens" are fighting alongside Russian forces. "I have instructed the foreign minister of Ukraine to immediately contact Beijing and find out how China is going to respond to this," Zelensky said. He said the capture of the two men and Moscow's involvement of China in the conflict were "a clear signal that Putin is going to do anything but end the war".
Zelensky also demanded "a reaction from the United States, Europe, and everyone in the world who wants peace" in his post online. "I think the United States should pay more attention to what is happening today," he said separately at a press conference in Kyiv. Ukraine has been urging its Western partners to respond to the Russian deployment of thousands of North Korean troops to the western region of Kursk. Ukraine has been struggling to hold ground after launching an offensive on the border region last year. "The North Koreans fought against us in the Kursk region, the Chinese are fighting on the territory of Ukraine. And I think this is an important point that we need to discuss with our partners, I think urgently," Zelensky added in the press conference. Kyiv, which dispatched its then-foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba to China last year, has been seeking to deepen ties with Beijing, and Zelensky this week appointed a new ambassador to China.
Meanwhile, Russia on Tuesday said it had retaken one of the last important villages held by Ukraine in its Kursk region, with Moscow having recaptured most of the border area since Kyiv's shock August 2024 attack. Ukraine launched its incursion two-and-a-half years after Moscow ordered the start of its full-scale military offensive in 2022. Ukraine's troops seized dozens of settlements and hundreds of square kilometres of territory, but have since been pushed back and now control only a small strip of land along the border.
The Russian defence ministry said its troops had taken control of the village of Guyevo, near the Ukraine border and south of the regional hub of Sudzha, which Moscow reclaimed last month. The Kremlin has praised its troops for a quick offensive in the Kursk region launched in March, after seven months of Kyiv holding on to chunks of Russian territory. But intense fighting has been ongoing in border villages.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said for the first time on Monday that Kyiv's forces were operating in the Russian region of Belgorod, which neighbours the Kursk region. Moscow has moved hundreds of civilians that had been trapped by fighting in the Kursk region to safety eastwards, as its troops advance to retake villages. Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on Ukrainian soldiers in the area to surrender while vowing they will be treated as terrorists and subject to criminal prosecution if captured by Russia. — AFP
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