Nick Schifrin:
So, Jack Yao, who we introduced to you in the story, the young Taiwanese man who traveled to Ukraine to fight, actually told me that he came across Chinese in Eastern Ukraine on the front line, and that was late 2022 when he was there.
So it is not unprecedented, but it is rare. Today, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted this video you see, there saying Ukraine captured these Chinese nationals’ I.D.s and ATM cards. They speak a little English and suggest their commander was wounded or killed. And Zelenskyy said Ukraine has information there are — quote — “many more Chinese citizens in the occupiers’ units.”
But U.S. officials tell me, Amna, there is no evidence that Beijing is sending civilians or soldiers to the front lines. And so, therefore, the assumption is that any Chinese national who ends up there is simply a soldier of fortune.
But, as we know, as we have talked about for years now, the U.S. has assessed that China sends machine tools, microelectronics, and other items that have propped up Russia’s defense industrial base and allowed them to continue to prosecute the war in Ukraine.
