Zelenskiy Says Hundreds of Chinese Men Have Joined Russia’s War

At least several hundred Chinese nationals are fighting with Russia’s army in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told a gathering of allies as he called for more air defense for Kyiv and more military pressure on Russia. 

“This means Russia is clearly trying to prolong the war — even by using Chinese lives,” Zelenskiy said on Friday in an online address to the meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contract Group in Brussels.

Zelenskiy has sought to raise further scrutiny of China’s support for Moscow since the capture of two Chinese citizens fighting alongside the Russian army in Ukraine earlier this week, after which the Ukrainian leader said that Russia is actively recruiting Chinese men through a social media campaign.

The new estimate by Zelenskiy surpassed the number which he announced two days ago, saying that Kyiv’s intelligence services identified at least 155 Chinese fighting for Russia. China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lin Jian dismissed claims of large numbers of Chinese fighting alongside Moscow’s troops as baseless on Wednesday, while Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to comment.

The Ukrainian president’s new staunch criticism of China comes amid strained relations between Kyiv and Washington. Ukraine hopes for continued military support from the US administration of Donald Trump, who has taken a tough stance toward Beijing.

Despite Trump’s efforts to broker a partial ceasefire in Ukraine, Russia continues to launch aerial attacks on the country. Kyiv lacks sufficient weaponry to fend off all Russia’s attacks from the skies, Zelenskiy said on Friday. 

That has forced Ukraine to rotate its few western-made air defense systems around the country in order to provide temporary cover to different cities, he said. The Ukrainian leader called on allies to provide ten more Patriot air defense systems.

Zelenskiy called on allies to provide Ukraine with ten more Patriot air defense systems to help fight off the attacks.

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