Analysis: Ukraine won’t want to make anything worse – but China’s position is openly contradictory
By John Sparks, international correspondent
In what was a carefully written post on social media site Telegram, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused the Russian army of deploying Chinese citizens on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine.
What about the proof?
Well, Zelenskyy says the Ukrainian security services captured two people from China in the Donetsk region – along with identity documents, personal data and their bank cards.
A video of a man in military fatigues who had been captured by Ukraine was pinned to the bottom of the statement.
We get snippets of a conversation where the combatant seems to be talking about the events that led to his capture.
“When we arrived at the place… and then my commander,” the man gestures at the floor and ceiling, making shooting noises.
“I was also injured.”
The important questions
These details will make it difficult for the Chinese government to deny the incident out of hand, although they are highly unlikely to supply additional information.
Important details, like who are they? What function(s) do they fulfil in Ukraine’s occupied territories.
Were these men volunteers – or mercenaries – who had signed up to fight in the Russian army on their own?
Alternatively, does the Chinese government sanction their involvement, or even encourage it?
That would make the situation far more serious.
The capture of these men in Donetsk begs another question – how many Chinese are actually fighting for Russia?
Zelenskyy’s generous interpretation
In his post, Zelenskyy said “there are many more Chinese citizens” than these two.
Still, the Ukrainian president works hard to suggest that the Chinese, officially at least, are blameless.
“Russia’s involvement of China in this war… is a clear signal that Putin is going to do anything but end the war,” he writes on Telegram.
This is a generous interpretation of China’s approach to the conflict, which is quite openly contradictory.
On one hand, the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, describes China as a neutral party to the conflict, while simultaneously offering Vladimir Putin long-term political and economic support.
In fact, he described their partnership as a “no limits” partnership in a phone call with Putin on the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy, then, is making a point with this post – but he does not want to make the situation any worse.