Chinese fight in Ukraine’s army

Mark O'Neill October 27, 2025 18:17

“I want the world not to give up on China. Don’t always associate China with negative things. There are many good people in China and many positive ideas.”

These are the words of Tim, 43, one of a few dozen Chinese who have volunteered to fight for Ukraine in its war with Russia, nearing its fourth year. For the first time, we have information about these men, published in the British Guardian newspaper.

Tim works in barracks in southern Ukraine making drones for Ukraine’s ground forces. Each month the drones kill thousands of Russian soldiers and destroy their tanks and armoured vehicles. Like the other Chinese volunteers, Tim did not wish to give his full name, for fear of retribution against his family at home.

He joined the army in July 2024. He was in Kyiv delivering aid when he went to the country’s largest paediatric clinic. It had just been reduced to rubble by a Russian missile. He was so angry that he decided to join the army and has served in it since.

He came to learn about the war from watching videos on Youtube in China. This is only possible by using a Virtual Private Network (VPN), since Youtube is blocked in China. Taking long routes that involved several stopovers, he visited Ukraine several times, was well treated and decided to move there as a volunteer.

The Ukrainian military says that about 8,000 foreigners served in two dedicated international legions, many from South America. They are attracted by salaries up to US$3,000 a month for the most dangerous missions.

In April, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukrainian intelligence had confirmed 155 Chinese fighting for the Russian military and that the real number was likely to be many more. That month his army captured two, who gave a news conference in Kyiv.

One said that he joined to earn military training and earn Russian citizenship. The other said that, like other Chinese volunteers, he had joined to escape legal issues at home.

Another Chinese volunteer in the Ukraine army, Fan, 39, said that the Covid pandemic had destroyed his businesses and he had debts of three million yuan. He was “lying flat” (躺平doing nothing) when he read about Chinese fighting for Ukraine on western social media. They included Peng Chenliang, a volunteer from Yunnan, who was killed in November 2024 during a combat operation on the eastern front.

“I was doing nothing back home … I felt I could not go on living such an unremarkable life. I wanted to do something that felt more meaningful. With difficulty, he reached a recruitment office in Lviv, leaving his wife and daughters in China.

Knowledgeable about drones, he was assigned as a drone operator to the frontline in eastern Ukraine. But the language barrier led him being pulled back from the front line. Now he guards a warehouse. “It can be lonely. I pass the time practising my Ukrainian on my telephone.”

Fan has not worked out how to bring his family to Ukraine. “Returning to China could be dangerous.” Another Chinese soldier in the Ukrainian army said that China’s National Security Police had questioned his family about him.

Without a VPN or access to non-Chinese website, it is difficult for Chinese to learn the actual situation in Ukraine. President Xi Jinping is the closest ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

As a result, China’s official media and websites follow the Russian narrative, blaming the West and NATO for the war. The Chinese Internet also has advertisements to join the Russian army, with generous signing on bonuses.

A study by Wang Tao of Manchester Metropolitan University found that, during the first year of the war, 80 per cent of China supported Russia. “Government-controlled media succeeded in swaying public opinion in favour of Russia,” he said.

“But there is a sizeable portion of the Chinese population sympathetic to Ukraine that has been largely overlooked. People are often afraid to express such views explicitly because it is seen as unconventional.”

In official statements, Beijing says it supports peace in Ukraine and that it tells its citizens to avoid areas of armed conflict and involvement in them. Chinese fighting on both sides in the Ukrainian war are volunteers, not sent by the government.

Volunteer Tim said that his main aim in Ukraine was to make a new life for himself and his family in Europe. “And I want to show the world that there are many Chinese like me.”

Mark O'Neill

A Hong Kong-based writer, teacher and speaker.