Captured Chinese fighters reveal how they ended up in war against Ukraine

They spoke during a press conference, according to Suspilne and Ukrainska Pravda.

The Chinese prisoners claimed that Russia recruits foreigners through intermediaries, offering jobs not related to military service. One of the prisoners wanted a job in rehabilitation but ended up in the military. He stated that he had a job in China but "lost it during the coronavirus pandemic and was looking for a new option."

"I initially refused to participate in combat but was later sent to the front," said Zhang Renbo.

Meanwhile, Wang Guangjun said that he was not given details about his contract with the Russian armed forces, including the responsibilities and compensation. He was initially offered a job as a builder.

"All documents were in Russian, and communication was through gestures, they showed us signs of what we needed to do. The situation was: I received a card with 200,000 rubles, but I couldn’t use the card. Periodically, the Russians took the card to spend money on fuel and power banks," said Zhang Renbo.

According to them, China promotes a "friendly attitude towards Russia." The enemy also actively spreads propaganda in Chinese media and social networks.

"Any information is about Russia’s victories. In Chinese social networks, you can see people in uniform, advertisements. In China, it's prestigious to be in the army, so some may want to join the army in another country," said one of the prisoners.

Zhang Renbo also described how he was captured. He said that on December 20, 2024, he arrived in Moscow, then went to Rostov, and then to temporarily occupied Donetsk, where he "moved from bunker to bunker for about a month and communicated with soldiers under constant shelling." On April 5, he was captured.

Both prisoners claimed that they supposedly "did not kill" Ukrainian soldiers during combat because they "weren’t on the front line for a long time."

According to the press service of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), the Chinese prisoners of war have called on Beijing to facilitate their exchange for Ukrainian prisoners held by Russia.

"We all want to return to China, to our homeland. We hope that the Chinese government can help organize an exchange between Ukraine and Russia so we can return to China," said Zhang Renbo.

They also urged their fellow citizens not to participate in the war against Ukraine: "To our compatriots in China who may want to join this war, we want to say it’s not worth it. Everything we heard from the Russians turned out to be lies. It turned out that Russia is not as strong as it claims, and Ukraine is not as weak. So it’s better not to participate in wars at all."

• On April 9, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Ukrainian intelligence services are aware of at least 155 Chinese citizens fighting in the Russian army.
• The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said they had no knowledge of more than 155 Chinese citizens fighting on the side of the Russian army against Ukraine.