Chinese military officials have reportedly visited the frontline in Ukraine to "glean insights for future warfare" as at least 155 of the country's nationals are thought to be fighting for Russia. An unnamed former Western intelligence official told the Reuters news service on April 11 that China authorised an unspecified number of its military officers to visit the frontline in Ukraine alongside the Russian military to "gain tactical insights from the war in Ukraine". However, they did not specify when these visits may have occurred.

Experts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) have said they "cannot independently verify this report". Reuters also reported that around 100 to 200 Chinese nationals are fighting for the Russian military as "mercenaries" independent from the Chinese government, according to US officials. They also suggested that the Chinese fighters seem to have minimal training and are "not having any discernable impact on Russian military operations".

The ISW added: "ISW has observed reports that these Chinese nationals likely signed contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) of their own accord rather than at the direction of PRC officials."

It comes after it was reported that Russia is “using social media and financial incentives to recruit Chinese nationals to voluntarily join” its armed forces.

Ukraine's President Zelensky said earlier this week that Vladimir Putin's forces are advertising on TikTok and other social networks in an effort to persuade Chinese citizens to join up, also claiming that a number had travelled to Moscow, where they “underwent medical examinations and one to two months of military training before deploying to Ukraine”.

A Russian missile attack killed at least 32 people in the Ukrainian city of Sumy today.

Local officials said two ballistic missiles struck the heart of the city at around 10.30am local time as people gathered to celebrate Palm Sunday.

Images posted from the scene on official channels showed lines of black body bags lying on the side of the road, while more bodies were seen wrapped in foil blankets among the debris.