Chinese nationals captured fighting for Russia in eastern Ukraine, Zelensky says
Chinese nationals captured fighting for Russia in eastern Ukraine, Zelensky says
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that Ukrainian forces had captured two Chinese men fighting on Russia’s side in eastern Ukraine, potentially threatening a fragile peace effort in the three-year-old war.
Further proof that World War III has gone hot in Ukraine.
On the one side: Russia, North Korea, China, Belarus, Hungary, half of the US
On the other side: Ukraine, the rest of Europe, Canada, Australia, the other half of the US
Can we move the front line to the Mason-Dixon line?
This isn't new, there were Chinese mercs fighting in the first couple of years of the war.
https://www.newsweek.com/chinese-mercenaries-russia-ukraine-war-1876765
There was also that video doing the rounds of a Chinese merc asking his government to pull him off the front line.
I don't think finding foreign nationals fighting in a war necessarily means their government regime is sending them.
There's a lot of foreign fighters in a lot of conflicts without representation or protection of their government, and I'd be curious if that case is different here.
The difference I see is that Ukraine has an offical foreign legion while Russia categorically denies any involvment of foreign forces on their sides.
A note: two of them. The remaining 1.3 billion didn't come.
Jokes aside, it's known for some time that some Chinese mercenaries are fighting on the Russian side. Some of them post on blogs or social media. Occasionally several have been noticed together. If their countrymen read the posts, they'll both understand the war better, and mostly understand that it's not worth joining.
It is understandable that they received their military training in the PLA. Because where else would a Chinese person receive training. However, it would be news if they were discovered to be active duty personnel from the PLA. (Then the question would arise of who allowed them to do that.) I have not yet read anyone saying that.
If that is the case (meaning they are not PLA active duty,) it is not functionally different than the Americans and other nationalities who volunteer for Ukraine.
Obviously (to me, at least) the Chinese and the orcs are on the wrong side of history, but regardless this isnt really "new news" at all. It has been effectively a global war since the first month of this phase of the conflict (started more like 2014 or arguably much earlier.) Call it WW3 or not, all the major players are involved one way or another. I guess it differs primarily in the scope of their involvement.
I would characterize China as "wanting to be on both sides of history".
Most notably, China hasn't condemned Putin's invasion, only speaking of the conflict as a problem like it has no clear initiator. Xi has met with Putin and hasn't used his influence to stop Putin, instead reaffirming their previous cooperation. On that background a statement of support to Ukraine's territorial integrity looks like empty words.
Also, China has kept buying Russian fuels, which keeps Putin afloat. (It should be noted that other countries, even European countries, make the same mistake, but they've been making efforts to get off the Russian tap, while China has not.)
But they sell electronics and communication systems to both sides. Drones made of Chinese parts fight both on the Ukrainian and Russian side. And their army weapons haven't been seen in Russian hands.