Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski said today that Russia is doing “systematic work” in China to recruit fighters for its war in Ukraine, a few days after the announcement that the Ukrainian forces were capturing two Chinese.

China, following statements made by the Ukrainian president that Ukrainian secret services have revealed that at least 155 Chinese citizens are fighting for Russia, it warned Ukraine today not to make “irresponsible” statements.

“It is absolutely clear that these are not individual cases, but of systematic Russian efforts, especially in the ground and in China’s jurisdiction, for the recruitment of citizens of that country for war for war.“, Zelenski wrote in a post on X, referring to the arrested men.

He also uploaded shots from an interrogation with one of them, which Reuters could not verify from independent sources.

“All needed to ensure that Russia does not have such and similar opportunities to extend and expand war“, Added Zelenski.

Kremlin spokeswoman Dmitry Peskov denied Zelenski’s claim and said Beijing was having a “balanced attitude”.

China, which has declared a “unruly” cooperation with Russia, has tried to appear as a factor in the negotiating efforts to end the war.

It is not known to have immediately helped the Russian full -scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but has avoided criticizing Moscow.