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.

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

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.