Ukraine updates: China denies its citizens fight for Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said "Beijing is aware" of Chinese citizens being recruited to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine.

"There are 155 people with names and passport details who are fighting against Ukrainians on the territory of Ukraine," Zelenskyy told journalists during a briefing in Kyiv.

He said Russia was recruiting Chinese citizens via social media.

Earlier, China's Foreign Ministry said it was verifying the situation in Ukraine and has consistently advised its citizens to avoid areas of armed conflict, particularly urging them "to avoid participating in the military operations of any party."

New refugees from Ukraine will no longer receive a citizen's benefit (Bürgergeld) in Germany, but the lower allowance for asylum seekers. The CDU, CSU, and SPD agreed to this during their coalition negotiations.

Their coalition agreement, which has yet to be finalized by the parties before being signed, states: "Refugees with a right of residence under the temporary protection directive who entered the country after April 1, 2025, should again receive benefits under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act if they are in need."

Ukrainian refugees do not have to apply for asylum, as the temporary protection directive applies to them throughout the EU. This means that they are granted residence status without having to apply for asylum.

Since June 1, 2022, refugees from Ukraine have been entitled to a citizen's benefit in Germany if they are unable to support themselves. This is now set to change, and the newcomers will receive the lower asylum seeker benefits again. This planned change will not affect those who have been in Germany for longer.

The validity of the EU directive for Ukrainian refugees has been extended until March 2026. There are currently around 1.25 million refugees from Ukraine living in Germany.

Read more about the coalition agreement here: Germany: CDU/CSU and SPD announce coalition government deal

The European Commission has disbursed an additional €1 billion ($1.1 billion) tranche of its exceptional macro-financial assistance (MFA) loan to Ukraine.

The loans are to be repaid with proceeds from Russian state assets frozen in the EU. This payment brings the total MFA disbursements to Ukraine to €5 billion.

The EU's €18.1 billion MFA is part of a G7-led initiative to provide some €45 billion in support to Ukraine.

"Our commitment to Ukraine is firm as ever. We work across the board to strengthen the country and support a just and lasting peace on Ukraine's terms. Today's disbursement and agreements are also an investment in a shared common future," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

The European Commission also announced that this week the EU requested €2.1 billion in windfall profits from immobilized assets of the Russian Central Bank held by Central Securities Depositories (CSDs). This windfall profit covers revenues accumulated during the second half of 2024.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said it had expelled two Romanian diplomats shortly after summoning the country's charge d'affaires in Moscow.

In a statement, the ministry said it had declared Romania's military attache and deputy military attache persona non grata and ordered them to leave Russia.

According to the ministry, the move came in response to Bucharest's expulsion of the diplomats' Russian counterparts last month for what Romania called actions that violated diplomatic rules.

The incoming German government under Friedrich Merz promises Ukraine "comprehensive support" in the fight against Russia’s full-scale invasion.

"We will provide comprehensive support to Ukraine so that it can effectively defend itself against the Russian aggressor and assert itself in negotiations," the CDU/CSU and the Social Democrats wrote in the coalition agreement.

The conservative CDU/CSU bloc is expected to lead the next German government after agreeing on a coalition with the center-left Social Democratic Party.

Read more about the coalition agreement here: Germany: CDU/CSU and SPD announce coalition government deal

The Russian army has "de facto" launched an offensive on the northeastern Ukrainian regions of Sumy and Kharkiv, according to Ukraine's top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi.

"For almost a week now, we have been observing a near-doubling of enemy attacks on all main frontiers," Syrskyi said.

According to the general, the Russian goal remains to create a buffer zone along the Russian-Ukrainian border in the Kharkiv, Sumy, and Chernihiv regions.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced for the first time on Monday that Ukrainian forces were operating in the Russian region of Belgorod. He added that activities also continued in the neighboring region of Kursk, where incursions first occurred in early August.

Zelenskyy explained that the operations inside Russia were aimed at protecting the Ukrainian border regions, particularly Kharkiv and Sumy.

Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene said she is not surprised by Ukraine's statement that two Chinese men had been captured fighting alongside Russian forces.

"China's very active involvement in supporting Russia — both financially, politically and in other ways — should leave no doubt about China's role, its goals, and the effectiveness of this team of the Axis of Evil," she said in Vilnius.

If confirmed, the incident would be another "illustrative example" of Kremlin-Beijing cooperation, she added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that Ukrainian forces had captured two Chinese citizens fighting with the Russian army.

Russia sent a note of protest to the French Foreign Ministry and summoned the country's ambassador in Moscow to complain after a Russian diplomat was detained by border guards at a Paris airport, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.

"As a result of the demarches undertaken, our colleague was ultimately allowed to enter the country, but she had to spend a day in the border zone of the airport. We do not intend to leave this without consequences," Zakharova said.

According to Zakharova, the Russian official was travelling to France on April 6 as part of an official delegation and had been given a French visa.

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the detention was "absolutely unacceptable", and "further aggravates" relations between France and Russia.

There was no immediate response from Paris. Relations between France and Russia have reached a new low in recent weeks as Moscow intensifies its criticism of Europe and French President Emmanuel Macron over his support for Ukraine.

China has rejected Ukrainian claims that "many" Chinese citizens are serving in Russian military units after two Chinese were captured on the battlefield in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region.

There is no basis for this claim, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said. He added that the Chinese government has consistently advised its citizens to avoid areas of armed conflict and to refrain from participating in military activities on either side.

"The Chinese side is verifying relevant information with the Ukrainian side," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin said.

Lin also stressed that "the Ukrainian side should correctly view China's efforts and constructive role in pushing for a political resolution to the Ukraine crisis." 

  A Ukrainian official told AFP news agency the Chinese citizens were captured "a few days ago," adding there may be more.

The prisoners were said to likely be Chinese citizens who were enticed into signing a contract with the Russian army, rather than being sent by Beijing.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that Ukrainian forces had captured two Chinese citizens fighting with the Russian army. He also posted a video on social media with images of one of the prisoners.

"We have information suggesting that there are many more Chinese citizens in the occupier's units than just these two," he wrote, without providing evidence.

China presents itself as a neutral party to the conflict and says it is not sending lethal aid to either side, but it is a close political and economic ally of Russia.

Russia declined to comment on Kyiv's claims. 

"I have no way of commenting on this issue," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday. 

The United States and Russia will hold talks on Thursday in Istanbul on restoring some of their embassy operations, the US State Department said.

The two sides will "try to make progress on further stabilizing the operations of our bilateral missions," State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters.

She stressed that there will be no political or security issues on the agenda, including Ukraine. "These talks are solely focused on our embassy operations, not on normalizing a bilateral relationship," Bruce added.

The talks, the second of their kind, come after US President Donald Trump reached out to Russia after the start of his second term and offered better relations if it stopped fighting in Ukraine. The talks are ongoing despite Russia rejecting a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire, which Ukraine supports.

At least 21 Ukrainians were wounded in Russian strikes across the country overnight, regional authorities said.

The worst strike wounded 15 people in the industrial city of Dnipropetrovsk in central Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia had launched 55 drones overnight and that its air defense units shot down 32 of them.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said that its air defense units destroyed 158 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 29 over the southern Rostov region.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, but residents from 48 apartments in a building in the Rostov town of Aksay were evacuated due to the threat from a possible detonation of a fallen drone, the regional authorities said.

The ministry also  said that Ukraine had carried out four attacks on Russian energy infrastructure over the past day, in violation of a US-brokered moratorium on hitting energy infrastructure targets.

Ukraine and Russia have repeatedly accused each other of breaking the moratorium.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that Kyiv's troops had captured two Chinese citizens who were fighting alongside Russian forces.

We will follow the reactions from China and Russia, as well as other events related to Russia's war on Ukraine and diplomatic efforts to end the fighting.