Analysis: Ukraine exposes captured soldiers and accuses China of supporting conflict

Putting prisoners of war before reporters and news cameras is almost, certainly, a violation of humanitarian international law.

But Ukraine clearly felt that any damage to her reputation in doing so at a news conference this week would be offset that the meeting has two alleged fighters captured from China.

China has always alleged neutrality in the Russian war against Ukraine and repeatedly asks its citizens who do not get involved in foreign conflicts.

Even so, as an important diplomatic and economic channel for Moscow, Beijing’s actions are closely observed in Kiev.

Damaged with combat uniforms and answering questions in Mandarin, prisoners of war were watched by armed Ukrainian security agents, while a translator sat next to them.

Men – whose names to CNN It does not disclose or identify at all – they told how financial incentives played a key role in their stories.

One of them said he was looking for a way to make money after losing his job during the coronavirus pandemic.

The prospect of earning 250,000 rubles a month in Russia was more than double what he could expect to win at home.

As someone with experience in medical rehabilitation, he told the recruiter that he wanted to do the same with the Russian army. But when he arrived in Moscow, he was forced to train for a combat function.

The documents were only in Russian, which neither said they understood. One reported that he communicated mainly by signs of hand.

THE CNN He saw a Russian military contract signed by another Chinese fighter, giving a possible indication of what the two prisoners of war had agreed.

The document, shown to CNN For a source of Ukrainian intelligence, it is written in Russian.

With a year of one year, he compromises the volunteer, among other things, to “participate in combat, to meet the duties during the mobilization period… emergencies and martial law”, as well as to participate in “activities to maintain and restore international peace and security” and to prevent “international terrorist activities outside the Russian federation territory”.

As soon as they arrived at the battlefield, the instructions were also not verbal. One of the men reported the chaotic moments that preceded his capture in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

“When we arrived at a forest, my captain said to me, ‘da, da, da’ (yes, yes, yes” in Russian), signaling to start the attack. But I didn’t know where the target was. We went through many Russian positions and thought we were heading toward our own bunker. There were drones (Ukrainians) everywhere. ”

The men surrendered. They had been fighting for only three days.

The role of foreign combatants

Foreign combatants have participated in this war – on both sides – from the beginning.

A list seen by CNN Showing non-Russian prisoners of war maintained by Ukraine until the end of 2024 included six Sri Lanka citizens, seven from Nepal, as well as individuals from Somalia, Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Egypt and Syria, as well as about a dozen former Soviet publics.

In January, Ukraine also captured two North Koreans, part of an estimated force of about 14,000 soldiers sent by Pyongyang to assist in Moscow’s war effort.

A source of Ukraine’s defense intelligence told the CNN that Moscow needed foreign fighters because he was now stuck in a friction war.

“Russia cannot keep a long front line with only its own soldiers and is taking advantage of every opportunity to recruit whoever can,” the source said.

Since the announcement of the Chinese capture last week – followed by Ukraine to declare information about 155 Chinese citizens fighting for Russia – a considerable interest has focused on how they were recruited and if the Chinese government played any active role.

Certainly, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did nothing to contain such speculation when asked by reporters if he believed that the presence of Chinese citizens in Ukraine was the result of an official Beijing policy.

“I don’t have an answer to this question yet. Ukraine security service will work on it,” he said last week, adding, “We’re not saying that someone gave any order, we don’t have that information.”

But Zelensky went on to claim that Kiev believed Beijing was aware of what was happening.

The prisoners of war struggled to indicate the opposite, claiming to be acting as individuals, pointing recruitment videos posted on Tiktok as a source of inspiration.

One of these clips has been in Chinese social networks for over a year and seems to have been originally created for the Russian audience, with later Chinese subtitles.

The video shows what seem to be Russian soldiers training and wearing combat uniforms on the field. “You are a man, be a man,” he says in Russian, accompanied by subtitles at Chinese, who also explain the payments offered by the inscription.

It is impossible to say whether the subtitles were added by an official entity or social networking users, but one of the men reported that the videos had great repercussions in China, where military feature is highly valued, but opportunities for experience in direct combat are rare.

Why the moment is important

Although Ukraine has already conducted press conferences with prisoners of war previously, including one involving Nepal fighters and several African countries, the decision to promote Chinese prisoners is still uncommon.

The decision takes place amid Kiev’s attempts to gain advantage in the battle with Moscow for the attention of US President Donald Trump, whose government seems to be making little progress in his efforts to convince Kremlin to agree with a total ceasefire.

Washington has also focused heavily on China, which some in the White House consider the main global opponent of the United States and that the government has been applying progressively larger import tariffs.

From Zelensky’s perspective, there is a clear interest in expanding anything that suggests that China’s support to Russia can be more than diplomatic and economic.

But perhaps it is not just the US that the Ukrainian leader is sending a message.

Anders Puck Nielsen of the Denmark Royal College of Defense, believes that Kiev is also concerned about recent European Union proposals for Beijing, while the two economic powers seek possible joint solutions to Trump’s commercial wars.

“Suddenly, it seems that there may be potential for Europeans and Chinese to find a point in common also on other issues,” Nielsen told CNN .

According to him, “it was clearly a political move to really emphasize this aspect (of the Chinese combatants in the Russian army).”

Beijing certainly saw that way.

“We install the relevant parts involved to correctly and soberly understand China’s role and not make irresponsible comments,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian, without quoting names.

This content was originally published under review: Ukraine exposes captured soldiers and accuses China of supporting conflict on CNN Brazil.

Source: CNN Brasil