China pushed back against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for making what it called "irresponsible remarks" about Beijing being aware that its citizens have been recruited to fight for Russia in Ukraine.
The April 10 comments from China's Foreign Ministry come the day after Zelenskyy said Ukrainian authorities had information on 155 Chinese nationals fighting alongside Russia. The claim followed video released by the Ukrainian military purporting to have captured two Chinese mercenaries in eastern Ukraine.
SEE ALSO: Zelenskyy Targets Beijing After Chinese Fighters Captured In Ukraine"We would advise the relevant parties to recognize China's role correctly and clear-headedly and to refrain from expressing irresponsible remarks," ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a press briefing, without mentioning Ukraine or its president by name.
Zelenskyy has escalated his criticism of Beijing in recent days following the announcement that Kyiv captured two Chinese nationals in the eastern Donetsk region.
Hours after China's statement, Zelenskyy issued a statement on Telegram with a video of a man in a military uniform answering an interrogator's questions in Mandarin with the help of an interpreter. The man confirmed he was a Chinese national recruited to the Russian armed forces to fight in Ukraine.
"We continue to clarify all the circumstances of Chinese citizens' involvement in the Russian occupying contingent. The Security Service of Ukraine is carrying out all necessary procedures with the individuals who were recently captured in the Donetsk region," Zelenskyy's statement said.
"It is obvious these are not isolated cases but systematic Russian work, in particular, on the territory and in the jurisdiction of China, to recruit citizens of this state for war," Zelenskyy added.
Speaking at a press conference a day earlier, the Ukrainian president accused Beijing of turning a blind eye to the recruitment of its citizens and allowing them to participate in the war, which is now in its fourth year.
SEE ALSO: Does China Want To Send Peacekeepers To Ukraine?"We record that they [China] knew about it," Zelenskyy said. "We record that these are Chinese citizens, they are fighting against us, using weapons against Ukrainians on the territory of Ukraine. Their motivation, money or not, politics, etcetera, is not yet known to me. But it will be known."
Beijing has denied sending soldiers to Ukraine to fight with Russian forces, but the presence of Chinese nationals fighting in the war has been documented before in Russian- and Chinese-language social media posts. A hundred or more Chinese citizens are estimated to have traveled to fight as mercenaries with Russia's army.
SEE ALSO: Russia's Foreign Mercenaries In Ukraine War: Military Leak Shows Bosnian Serb Fighter As GRU OfficerA Russian Defense Ministry hospital database obtained exclusively by RFE/RL in February also showed that Chinese mercenaries had been wounded serving alongside Russian troops.
Zelenskyy told reporters he was not aware if China "gave some kind of command" to those now fighting for Russia. He maintained, though, that Beijing must have been aware of people joining a foreign military in exchange for payment.
While foreign soldiers fighting for both Ukraine and Russia have been a factor in the war since Moscow's full-scale invasion in 2022, the episode is the first time Kyiv has made such claims about Chinese fighters.
Your browser doesn’t support HTML5
Taiwan's Civil Defense Groups Take Inspiration From Ukraine War
This marks a change of track for Zelenskyy, who had previously been careful dispensing criticism of Beijing, despite its staunch diplomatic and economic support for Russia throughout the war. China has helped the Kremlin's war effort with increased trade and the strategic supply of militarily useful dual-use goods.
US and European officials have criticized this level of support provided by China. European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas reiterated this to reporters on April 9 following news of the captured Chinese recruits, saying Chinese territory is a conduit for around 80 percent of the dual-use goods currently entering Russia.
"What is clear is that China has been the key enabler of Russia's war," she said. "Without Chinese support, Russia wouldn't be able to wage war [on the scale] that it has."
Beijing, however, has maintained that it is a neutral party in the war and stopped short of providing Russia with weapons or military expertise.
SEE ALSO: China Supplying Key Chemicals For Russian Missiles, RFE/RL Investigation FindsKyiv's relationship with the United States had become fraught as US President Donald Trump has pushed for Russia and Ukraine to agree to a cease-fire and work toward a peace deal to end the war.
Analysts have speculated that Zelenskyy may be hoping Trump's antipathy toward China -- a country Washington is engaged in an escalating trade war with and has designated as a global rival -- could improve his standing with the Trump administration.
SEE ALSO: Taiwan Is Watching Ukraine And Trump. Here's What It's Learning."This could be used by the Trump administration to, among other things, increase pressure on China," Ihor Reiterovych, a Ukrainian political analyst, told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service. "This could even have an indirect impact on US-Russia relations, because there is a new element that should definitely be taken into account."
Zelenskyy had earlier accused Russia of "dragging China into this war," a claim dismissed by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on April 10.
"Partner, friend, and comrade. China has always taken a very balanced position, so Zelenskyy is wrong," he told reporters.
Meanwhile, the governor of Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhiy Lysak, said on April 10 that a Russian missile attack on the regional capital, Dnipro, killed one person and injured three others.