In a fastidiously written submit on social media platform Telegram, Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused the Russian military of deploying Chinese language residents on the battlefield in jap Ukraine.
What concerning the proof? Effectively, the Ukrainian president says his safety providers captured two folks from China within the Donetsk area – together with id paperwork, private knowledge and their financial institution playing cards.
A video of a person in army fatigues who had been captured by Ukraine was pinned to the underside of the assertion.
We get snippets of a dialog the place the alleged combatant appears to be speaking concerning the occasions that led to his seize.
“When we arrived at the place… and then my commander.” The person gestures on the ground and ceiling, making taking pictures noises. “I was also injured.”
Picture:
Volodymyr Zelenskyy uploaded a video showing to point out a Chinese language citizen in army uniform in Ukrainian custody
These particulars will make it tough for the Chinese language authorities to disclaim the incident out of hand, though they’re extremely unlikely to provide further info.
Essential particulars like, who’re they? What operate(s) do they fulfil in Ukraine’s occupied territories?
Had been they volunteers – or mercenaries – who had signed as much as struggle within the Russian military on their very own?
Alternatively, does the Chinese language authorities sanction their involvement – and even encourage it?
That might make the state of affairs way more critical.
The seize of those Chinese language nationals in Donetsk begs one other query – what number of Chinese language are literally preventing for Russia? In his submit, Mr Zelenskyy stated “there are many more Chinese citizens” apart from these two.
Nonetheless, the Ukrainian president works laborious to recommend the Chinese language, formally at the least, are innocent.
“Russia’s involvement of China in this war… is a clear signal that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is going to do anything but end the war,” he writes on Telegram.
This can be a beneficiant interpretation of China’s method to the battle, which is kind of overtly contradictory.
On one hand, Chinese language President Xi Jinping describes China as a impartial social gathering to the battle, whereas concurrently providing Mr Putin long-term political and financial help.
In reality, he described their partnership as a “no limits” one in a cellphone name with Mr Putin on the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Zelenskyy then, is making some extent with this submit – however he doesn’t wish to make the state of affairs any worse.
