Prisoners of war from the People’s Republic of China, who fought in the russian armed forces and were captured by Ukraine’s Defense Forces in Donetsk region, called on official Beijing to facilitate their exchange for Ukrainian prisoners of war held by russia.

They made this statement during a press conference organized by the Security Service of Ukraine.

Both prisoners said they wanted to return home and were ready to be exchanged for Ukrainian defenders. ‘We all want to return to China, to our homeland. We hope that the Chinese government can help: that is, to carry out an exchange between Ukraine and russia, and we will return to China,’ said prisoner of war Zhang Renbo.

Answering journalists’ questions, the two said that the recruitment of Chinese citizens to sign a contract with russia’s ministry of defense to participate in the war against Ukraine is carried out through various platforms, including bloggers and advertising on TikTok and other social media.

‘To our fellow Chinese citizens who want to take part in this war, we want to say that they should not do so. Because everything we heard from russians was a lie. And it turned out that russia is not that strong, and Ukraine is not that weak. And that’s why it’s better not to participate in wars at all,’ said Wang Guangjun, a prisoner of war.

According to both foreigners, they signed contracts with the russian ministry of defence, tempted by a large one-time cash reward and subsequent monthly payments of 200-250 thousand rubles.

One of them signed the contract in Rostov, the other in Kazan. According to the PoWs, they were then transported to field tent camps for short-term training, and later – to the temporarily occupied Donetsk.

After they were captured, they were handed over to the SSU and transported to a safe place, further away from the front line, and then to Kyiv, where they are held in good conditions and treated well.

‘War is completely different from what we have seen in films and on TV. I would like to tell my family that I am very lucky after all: in Ukraine the attitude to me is very good,’ Zhang Renbo said. He is aware that he must be punished for his participation in the war.

The Security Service of Ukraine is now conducting the necessary investigative actions to establish all the circumstances of the Chinese citizens’ participation in russia’s war against Ukraine and is checking the testimonies of these prisoners.

The investigation is carried out under the procedural supervision of the Prosecutor General’s Office under Article 438 of the CCU (war crimes).

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