Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kiev has captured two Chinese nationals fighting alongside Russian forces in eastern Ukraine.
“There are the prisoners’ documents, bank cards and personal data,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram, alongside a video showing images of one of the captured men.
He said the two men had been fighting for the Russians in the eastern Donetsk region.
Zelensky claimed the two are not isolated cases. “We have information that there are many more such Chinese citizens in the occupying forces,” he said.
He has instructed Ukraine’s acting foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, to demand an official response from Beijing, calling the development a “clear signal” that Russian President Vladimir Putin is intent on prolonging the war.
“This absolutely requires a response — from the US, Europe and everyone in the world who wants peace,” Zelensky said.
The prisoners are in the custody of Ukraine’s SBU security service.
Ukraine has been defending against Russia’s full-scale invasion for more than three years, with significant military and financial support from Western allies.
North Korean troops are known to have fought for Russia, while thousands of foreign volunteers are believed to be serving on the Ukrainian side.
Ukrainian troops operating in Russia’s Belgorod
Zelensky publicly acknowledged late on Monday for the first time that the country’s troops are holding positions inside Russia’s Belgorod region.
“We continue to conduct active operations in the border areas on the enemy’s territory, and this is absolutely right. The war must return to where it came from,” Zelensky said in his nightly address from Kiev.
Zelensky also said that Ukrainian troop activity continued in Russia’s neighbouring Kursk region, where incursions first took place in early August.
He said the operations inside Russia aim to protect Ukraine’s border regions, particularly Kharkiv and Sumy.
There has been no official confirmation from the government in Moscow that Ukrainian troops are operating in Belgorod, but local Belgorod authorities have acknowledged military activity as parts of the region come under sustained Ukrainian fire.
In Kursk, Ukrainian forces had maintained control over parts of the territory for several months. However the troops have since retreated from most of Kursk.
Some Western analysts have expressed concern that cross-border incursions could drain resources from key battlefields elsewhere along the front.