“I wanted to make money, but I didn’t expect to end up in a war,” recalls Zhang Renbo, speaking at a press conference in Ukraine (“ ‘Russia lied to us’: Chinese fighters captured by Ukraine tell their story,” Radio Free Asia, April 15, 2025).
Zhang is one of two soldiers from China that Ukraine captured on the battlefield in early April. The other is Wang Guangjun.
Wang said he lost his job last summer and came across a TikTok ad offering a lucrative opportunity to join the Russian military. The recruiter promised him a salary far above the Chinese average and offered to pay for travel and paperwork.
But soon after arrival, Wang claimed, the Russians confiscated his phone and bank card. He was unable to access the promised pay or contact anyone back home.
“Everything we heard from the Russians was a lie,” Wang said.
Radio Free Asia has not independently verified the men’s claims.
The two men said they signed enlistment contracts voluntarily but without any connection to the Chinese government.
Both claimed they were initially offered non-combat jobs—Wang in the military directly, Zhang through construction work—only to be placed on the battlefield later….
As many as 12,000 North Korean soldiers are in Russia to fight Ukrainian forces who occupied parts of Kursk in an August counterattack, according to the U.S. and Ukraine. Neither Pyongyang nor Moscow has acknowledged their presence.
According to Wang, he was placed in a training camp alongside recruits from Central Asia, Ghana, and Iraq, and said communication with commanders was limited to gestures.
In light of other reporting, the story that Russia lies to potential recruits even more than military recruiters elsewhere might do so seems plausible.
For example, according to an April 9, 2025 Daily Mail report, hundreds of Yemeni mercenaries were press-ganged into fighting Ukraine for Russia after being “lured in with the promise of well-paid work and Russian citizenship. Some said they were tricked into joining after signing enlistment contracts they could not read, and were told they would be working in lucrative fields like engineering. When they arrived in Russia, a recruit said a man fired a pistol above their heads and ordered them to sign a contract before they were taken to Ukraine on buses.”
What Beijing knows
The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, believes that at least 155 Chinese nationals have signed up to fight for Russia against Ukraine. “There are 155 people with names and passport details who are fighting against Ukrainians on the territory of Ukraine. Beijing is aware of this.”
Beijing says that it is unaware of this. According to Lin Jian, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, “The Chinese government has always asked its citizens to stay away from areas of armed conflict” and to “avoid involvement in armed conflicts in any form.”
Retired British Colonel Philip Ingram suggests that although China would not be “formally providing troops to Russia, they won’t discourage individuals wanting to join. They will probably be sending liaison staff and special forces to gain combat experience but in as deniable a way as possible.”
