Vladimir Putin's forces are not as strong as they claim. This was stated by the two Chinese soldiers captured by Ukrainian forces on the front in Ukraine, The Telegraph and Ukrinform write.
For the first time since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Chinese citizens fighting on the side of Moscow have been captured. China denies that it has sent its soldiers to Russia and has urged its citizens not to participate in armed conflicts.
The two Chinese told the media that they were lied to by Russia. They also claim that its army is not as strong as it claims. They were captured in eastern Ukraine.
One of the captured soldiers said that he went to Russia as a “tourist“ and saw an advertisement for the army promising 2 million rubles. The other was recruited through TikTok. However, both stressed that they were not fighting on behalf of China and had no ties to the Chinese state authorities.
Both Chinese soldiers said they were captured immediately after arriving at the front line and did not kill Ukrainian soldiers.
The Chinese said that conditions in the Russian camps were appalling - lack of water, electricity, and food. The Russians gave them bits of "raw rice" to survive. One captured fighter even said that the Russians took back part of the salary they paid him as a mercenary.
Ukrinform writes that one of them, an unemployed man born in 1991, was recruited by a Russian representative directly in China and arrived in Moscow in February 2025 to sign a contract. He claims that he has no previous combat experience and has never held a weapon.
Both captured mercenaries say they want to return to China - despite knowing that they face punishment at home.
China has condemned the "manipulation and media hype" surrounding two of its citizens captured fighting on the side of Russian forces in eastern Ukraine, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of dragging Beijing into the war, AFP reported yesterday.