Ukraine says it captured two Chinese nationals fighting in Russian army

Kyiv, Ukraine (CNN) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said two Chinese nationals fighting in the Russian army have been taken prisoner in eastern Ukraine.

Zelensky said Tuesday that Ukrainian forces fighting in the Donetsk region obtained the Chinese nationals’ documents, bank cards and personal data.

“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,” Zelensky said in a post on Telegram. “I have instructed the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine to immediately contact Beijing and find out how China is going to react to this.”

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

The Ukrainian president also called on its allies in the United States and Europe to protest.

It is unclear if the Chinese nationals that Ukraine says it captured are Chinese soldiers or volunteers. Western officials on Tuesday told CNN that they did not see “evidence of state sponsorship” in their cases.

US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said it was “disturbing” to see the reports. “China is a major enabler of Russia in the war in Ukraine. China provides nearly 80% of dual-use items Russia needs to sustain the war,” said Bruce in a news conference on Tuesday.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Tuesday that Kyiv has summoned Beijing’s chargé d’affaires in Ukraine “to condemn this fact and demand an explanation.”

“We hope that after this situation, the Americans will talk more with Ukrainians and then with Russians. And we hope that the Chinese side will also respond,” Zelensky said Tuesday afternoon during a news conference.

“This is another country that militarily supports Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the side of Russia. This is another one after Iran and the North Korean military,” he added.

China has consistently denied any involvement in the war. Beijing said on Wednesday that it was “currently verifying” the situation with Ukraine.

“It is important to emphasize that the Chinese government has always instructed its citizens to stay away from areas of armed conflict and avoid getting involved in the conflict in any form, especially avoiding participation in any party’s military operations,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lin Jian said in a press conference on Wednesday.

The Kremlin spokesperson on Wednesday declined to comment on the claim that Chinese nationals were allegedly captured in Ukraine.

China has helped Russia ramp up its defense industrial base as it continues its war against Ukraine, senior Biden administration officials told CNN last year.

The support China has provided includes significant quantities of machine tools, drone and turbojet engines and technology for cruise missiles, microelectronics, and nitrocellulose, which Russia uses to make propellant for weapons, the officials said in April 2024.

Meanwhile, Russia has also considerably strengthened its military relationship with North Korea over the last year, with the two signing a mutual defense agreement and Pyongyang sending its troops to fight for Moscow in Ukraine.

In January, Ukrainian forces operating in the Kursk region of Russia captured two North Korean soldiers.

Russia reclaiming ground in Kursk region

Russian attacks on Ukraine in the last 24 hours killed at least three people and injured 19 others, according to Ukrainian officials. Russia carried out attacks on the Ukrainian regions of Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv and Kherson, local officials said.

Elsewhere on the front lines, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Tuesday that it has retaken one of the last villages held by Ukraine in the Kursk region, months after Kyiv launched a surprise cross-border incursion.

“The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue to defeat the Ukrainian Armed Forces formations in the Kursk region. Units of the North group of forces have liberated the settlement of Guyevo in the Kursk region during offensive operations,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

US-based conflict monitor the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in an update Monday that Russian forces have recently advanced in Kursk. ISW’s map of the incursion shows that Ukrainian troops remain only in small parts of the Russian region.

Ukrainian troops have occupied part of the Kursk region since August 2024, though Russian forces have since recaptured much of the territory.

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian regiment released video on Tuesday showing strikes on Russia’s neighboring Belgorod region, one day after Zelensky confirmed for the first time on Monday that his country’s troops have been active in the region as they seek to protect Ukrainian towns near the border.

Ukraine’s 225th separate assault regiment said the video shows its forces destroying two bridges in Belgorod, in the villages of Grafovka and Nadezhevka. CNN has verified that those are the locations shown in the video.

“Then the drone operations and clearing the ground followed,” the regiment said in a Telegram post, confirming their presence on the ground in Russian territory.

Ukrainian forces began limited attacks in Russia’s northwestern Belgorod region on March 18, according to ISW, in areas just across the border from Ukraine. The Russian Defense Ministry previously said it defeated Ukrainian troops attacking Belgorod.

CNN’s Anna Chernova and Nick Paton Walsh contributed to this report.

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