Selling slaughter Russia using ads online to recruit Chinese fighters

The videos are all over Chinese social media. Some are slickly produced Russian propaganda about being "tough" men; some sound more like influencer advertisements for a working holiday. Others are cobbled-together screenshots by regular citizens about to leave China. But they all have one thing in common: selling the benefits of becoming a Chinese mercenary for Russia.

- Helen Davidson Taipei Jason Tzu Kuan Lu Dan Sabbagh Kyiv

On Tuesday, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said two Chinese nationals had been captured in eastern Donetsk and accused Moscow of trying to involve China "directly or indirectly" in the conflict. A day later, he said the men were among at least 155 other Chinese members of Russia's armed forces. Then, yesterday, he accused Russia of conducting "systemic work" in China to recruit fighters.

China says it is a neutral party to the conflict, though its leader, Xi Jinping, and Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, are public allies, with a "no limits" partnership between their two nations.

Zelenskyy demanded answers from Beijing, accusing it of ignoring Russia's recruitment of its citizens. Russia is known to have used or tried to recruit foreign mercenaries or soldiers - including from North Korea, Syria and Libya - during the conflict. He said Russia was recruiting Chinese fighters through ads on Chinese social media platforms such as Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, and that Beijing was aware of it.

Recruitment clips are easily found on Chinese social media. They all emphasise the pay on offer, ranging from 60,000 to 200,000 Chinese yuan (£6,000 to £21,000) as a sign-on bonus and monthly salaries of 18,000 yuan (£1,900).