More than one hundred Chinese citizens fighting for the Russian military against Ukraine are mercenaries who do not appear to have a direct link to China's government, two U.S. officials familiar with American intelligence and a former Western intelligence official said.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that Ukrainian intelligence had identified 155 Chinese citizens fighting alongside Russian forces, a day after Ukraine said two Chinese nationals were captured in the country.

A Beijing official pushed back on Ukraine’s claim that there were significant numbers of Chinese troops fighting alongside Russian forces. An official said the idea that many Chinese nationals