Chinese nationals serving as “mercenaries” have been killed on the front lines in Ukraine, according to a social media group focused on honoring fallen Russian soldiers.
Thousands of foreigners have fought for Russia since Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but no solid evidence has emerged that Chinese nationals are among them.
“The Ukrainian Armed Forces have killed two Chinese mercenaries according to Russian channels,” an X (formerly Twitter) account called PS01△ said on Wednesday.
Below the tweet, the netizen shared a post from the Telegram channel for a pro-war volunteer group known as ZOVNovoshakhtinsk.
The post included a statement on the deaths of a pair of soldiers nicknamed “Sprite” and “Cola.”
“The guys from China. Good guys, great fighters, Died…,” the poster wrote alongside photos of two young Asian men wearing military gear. Below the brief eulogy, members of the group seemed to be discussing how soon the soldiers had died after joining.
Newsweek could not independently verify the post. Newsweek reached out by email to the Russian and Chinese Foreign Ministries for comment outside office hours.
A Russian media outlet earlier this year called ZOVNovoshakhtinsk “an initiative group of volunteer wives, sisters and relatives of mobilized Novoshakhtinsk residents who died in the [Special Military Operation] zone.”
Novoshakhtinsk is a mining city in the southwest Russian region of Rostov and sits just a few miles from the Ukrainian border. The “Special Military Operation” is the Kremlin’s term for the war against Ukraine.
The write-up detailed the group’s installation of billboards around the city featuring Novoshakhtinsk residents who had been killed in action.
Kyiv has also welcomed thousands of foreign mercenaries since launching its International Legion for the Territorial Defense of Ukraine. These included an army veteran from Taiwan, Tseng Sheng-guang, who in November 2022 became the first person from an East Asian country to be killed in the fighting.
While Beijing has sought to frame itself as a neutral party in regard to the Ukraine war, it has deepened diplomatic relations with Moscow, stamped out criticism of the war on Chinese social media and helped keep Russia’s wartime economy afloat as a top buyer of Russian oil and national gas.
China maintains it has not supplied Russia with weapons or other direct military aid. However, Ukraine says Chinese dual-use components have found their way into Russian weapons of war. A recent Reuters report suggests Chinese researchers have helped a Russian R&D company develop deadlier military drones.
