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China Rejects Accusations of Supplying Russia With Artillery for War in Ukraine
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![Photo of Vlad Litnarovych]( "Photo of Vlad Litnarovych")
China has rejected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s claim that Beijing is supplying Russia with weapons, calling the accusations “groundless,” Reuters reported, citing Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian on April 18.
“China has never provided lethal weapons to any party in the Ukrainian crisis ,” Lin said, using the Chinese government’s term for Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.
Lin also pushed back against what he described as “baseless accusations and political manipulation,” and suggested that “the majority of weapon components imported by Russia originate from the United States and other Western countries.”
His remarks came in response to Zelenskyy’s public statement on April 17, in which the Ukrainian leader said that Russia was receiving artillery and gunpowder from China and that Chinese nationals were involved in weapons production on Russian territory.
Zelenskyy also recalled assurances made during his previous call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, during which Xi reportedly pledged that China would not supply weapons to Moscow.
“Unfortunately, we are seeing different information today. We already have evidence of cooperation between China and Russia that strengthens Russia’s defense capacity, and that is deeply concerning,” the Ukrainian President said.
Ukraine has also reported that Chinese citizens are fighting as mercenaries on Russia’s side after capturing two Chinese nationals fighting on the Russian side in the Donetsk region.
While Beijing has not acknowledged this directly, its official guidance to nationals has been to “stay away from conflict zones and avoid involvement in any form,” but said it will assess their actions according to Chinese law once all circumstances have been verified.
Earlier, the Security Service of Ukraine begun questioning two Chinese nationals captured while fighting for Russian forces.
The foreign nationals were providing testimony about how they joined the Russian military and what roles they performed in Ukraine, the SBU said.
After that, the two Chinese nationals in question, Wang Guangjun and Zhang Renbo, who were captured by Ukrainian forces while fighting for Russia, revealed that Russian authorities withheld their pay and concealed the terms of their military service.
At a press conference in Kyiv on April 14, one of the detainees, Renbo, said he was issued a bank card with 200,000 rubles, (approximately $2,200 at the time) but was unable to access the funds.
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