Is Beijing secretly supporting Russia in Ukraine? Presence of Chinese troops in Donetsk shows ‘authoritarian axis in action’, experts say after soldiers were captured by Zelensky’s men

The presence of Chinese troops in Ukraine reveals a sinister ‘authoritarian axis in action’, experts have warned after Kyiv claimed to have captured troops in Donetsk. 

Luke De Pulford, Executive Director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, suggested China, Russia and North Korea were allowing citizens to prolong a conflict ‘which is killing innocents and fracturing democratic alliances’.

He told MailOnline the presence of mercenaries would mean China is ‘tolerating’ its citizens providing on-the-ground support for Putin’s illegal war.

If they were People’s Liberation Army soldiers, he said, ‘swift and meaningful coordinated sanctions must follow’.

The presence of Chinese soldiers on the battlefield, be they mercenaries or Chinese soldiers, threatens to upend the delicate status quo with U.S.-mediated peace talks failing to make decisive progress.

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, today demanded an explanation from Beijing, going so far as to say it ‘puts into question China’s declared stance for peace’.

Philip Ingram MBE, retired British Army colonel and military intelligence specialist, told MailOnline that ‘while China won’t 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.’

Zelensky said they had reason to believe there were ‘significantly more’ in the Russian ranks

Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin look toward each other as they shake hands prior to their talks in Beijing, China, Thursday, May 16, 2024

Volodymyr Zelensky during a meeting with officers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces at an undisclosed location in the Donetsk region, March 2025

Ukraine on Tuesday reported that Chinese nationals had been found fighting for Russia in eastern Ukraine.

Initial comments from President Zelensky stopped short of suggesting whether they were foreign volunteers, paid mercenaries or Chinese PLA troops.

Zelensky admitted that Ukraine is still scrambling to bring together all the facts, and said that an investigation was under way.

In an unsettling development, he said that Kyiv had evidence that ‘many more Chinese citizens’ are fighting alongside Russian forces.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Zelensky hit out at Beijing, accusing it of actively supporting Russia – against its principle of neutrality.

‘This is another country that militarily supports Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the side of Russia,’ he said.

‘This is another one after Iran and the North Korean military.’

He urged a response from ‘the Chinese side’ and also called for the U.S. and Europe to ‘react’, accusing Putin of trying to prolong the war.

Michael Clarke, former director of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), told Sky News the consequences would depend on ‘the identity and allegiances’ of the soldiers captured.

If they are Chinese individuals ‘effectively fighting as mercenaries, then that’s obviously embarrassing to China. But in a way it goes no further than that.’

But operating on behalf of China would cross ‘quite a big legal line’, he said.

China ‘would pretend that that isn’t the truth’, he anticipated.

There was no immediate response to the claims from either Moscow or Beijing but Sybiha said on social media that China’s charge d’affaires had been summoned for an explanation. 

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Tom Shugart, a former US Navy submarine warfare officer and Adjunct Senior Fellow with the Defense Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), agreed.

‘If these are individuals who have signed up of their own accord, that would be one thing,’ he wrote on X.

‘If [China] is actively providing soldiers to fight in Ukraine, that would be altogether different – a possible sign of a real Axis that may best be resisted wherever it is fighting.’

While China is unlikely to be sending troops directly to support Russia’s war effort, the discovery will come as an embarrassment for China, after three years of vows to stay out of the conflict.

Beijing has maintained that it respects Ukraine’s sovereignty, calling for a ‘peaceful and diplomatic resolution’.

But it has also called for Russia’s concerns about NATO expansion to be addressed and stayed out of UN votes condemning the invasion.

Just weeks before the February 2022 invasion, Moscow and Beijing announced a ‘no-limits partnership deal’ – a significant effort to collaborate and repair ties strained by a complicated history.

Servicemen from the 24th Mechanized Brigade firing a 120mm mortar at Russian army positions near Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region, Ukraine, 16 March 2025

A view of the ruined and abandoned town of Maryinka (Mariinka) in the Donetsk region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, on April 1, 2025

Jan Paternotte, a Dutch MP with the Democrats 66 party, said Putin’s war in Ukraine was ‘made possible by Xi [Jinping]’, citing the continuation of mutual trade.

‘And now the bombshell: Chinese soldiers captured in Europe,’ he wrote on X.

‘Not as peacekeepers, as Beijing has cynically suggested. But as mercenaries in Putin’s invasion force. 

‘There’s no way the Chinese government didn’t know. Europe must make clear: this is unacceptable.’ 

Professor Sergey Radchenko, an expert on Sino-Soviet relations, told MailOnline he understood the Chinese nationals were not there on government instructions.

‘Nationals of many countries have been doing this sort of thing. The only ones that definitely require government involvement are North Koreans who wouldn’t be able to do it on their own.

‘The Chinese, on the contrary, can just sign up as any mercenaries can – for either side!’

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