'There are many like me' The Chinese volunteers fighting for Ukraine

In a war that has been characterised by merciless attacks on civilians, one of the worst took place on 8 July 2024. Russian missile strikes killed at least 43 people in cities across Ukraine in one of the deadliest days of the war last year. One of the most shocking blows was to the Okhmatdyt children's hospital in central Kyiv, which reduced the country's largest paediatric clinic to rubble.

- Amy Hawkins Senior China correspondent

Tim, 43, was delivering aid on the outskirts of Kyiv when he heard a missile fly overhead. A short while later, he saw the news on his phone that the children's hospital had been hit. Along with a British friend, the Chinese national, who asked to be referred to by his English name, rushed to the scene to help with the recovery efforts.

"Seeing the severed limbs, some of them belonging to children, I started crying," said the father of two, with tears in his eyes. "I thought about the kind of anger that Chinese people have. Once it's ignited... it's intense. I decided to join the army." More than a year later, Tim is in his barracks in southern Ukraine, engineering drones for the military's ground force. He is one of a small number of Chinese people who have defied their government and mainstream public opinion to fight against an invasion by Beijing's most important geopolitical partner.

Tim arrived in Ukraine in July 2023. He had been watching with concern from China for months, occasionally donating money to online fundraisers for relief efforts.

But he wanted to do more. He applied for a business visa through an agent in China and embarked on the long journey west.

Like many Chinese volunteers, Tim is motivated by sympathy for the Ukrainian cause and despair at the direction of his own country.

Before he arrived in Ukraine, the only other country he had visited was Japan. But he had considered emigrating for more than a decade.