在俄罗斯-乌克兰战争前线附近的一间小屋的前厅里，有一个临时搭建的工作台。这个工作台上摆满了用于组装无人机的各种工具：墙上挂满了钳子和一卷卷的胶带；桌子上堆满了螺丝刀和电线；靠墙的地方还放着两架“自杀式”无人机（即专门用于执行危险任务的无人机）。在这间乌克兰乡村房屋里，只有一样东西显得格格不入——那是一壶中国茶，茶叶因为被反复冲泡而已经枯萎了。
On the makeshift workbench in the cramped front room of a cottage near the frontlines of the Russia-Ukraine war, there are all the accoutrements of a drone workshop. The walls are lined with pliers and rolls of duct tape; the table is cluttered with screwdrivers and piles of wire. Propped up against the wall are two kamikaze drones. Only one item looks out of place in this Ukrainian village house: a pot of Chinese tea, the leaves wilted from repeated top-ups.
好茶是蒂姆非常怀念中国生活的一部分。他的父母每月都会给他寄来生活用品。这位44岁的男子说道：“我时常想起中国的一切，那些回忆和情感让我难以忘怀。”蒂姆希望别人用他的英文名字来称呼他。他是乌克兰某军事部队的主要志愿者，该部队今年启动了一个不同寻常的项目：从被视为俄罗斯最大支持者的中国招募士兵。
Good tea is one of the many things that Tim misses about his life in China. His parents post monthly supplies to Ukraine. “I think about all of it,” the 44-year-old said, of his home country. “It brings back memories and emotions.”Tim, who asked to be referred to by his English name, is the lead volunteer in a Ukrainian military unit that this year launched an unusual project: to recruit soldiers from the country seen as Russia’s biggest backer, China.
许多乌克兰军事部队都有自己的品牌和公开形象，它们通过各种方式争夺资金和新兵。然而在这个项目中，负责侦察任务的部队指挥官要求保密部队的真实身份，因为这个项目的性质非常敏感。
Many Ukrainian military units have their own brands and public presences as they compete with each other for funding and new recruits. But in this case, the commander of the unit, which focuses on reconnaissance, asked that its identity be withheld because of the sensitivity of the Chinese volunteers project.
“首先，这是为了这些中国志愿者的安全，”这位被称为“Muse”的指挥官解释道，“为了他们自己以及他们家人的安全。”他提到，已经有五名中国志愿者在完成训练后被迫返回了中国（目前该部队共有大约十几名中国志愿者）。他担心，如果这些志愿者的身份被公开，可能会有更多的中国志愿者选择退出。因此，他要求在照片中不要出现任何志愿者的面部。
“It’s for their sake first and foremost,” said the commander, known by the call sign Muse. “For their own safety and that of their families.”Muse said five Chinese men who had joined his unit had returned to China after completing their training because of pressure from the Chinese authorities. “We’d put our heart and soul into them,” he lamented. He is fearful that more Chinese soldiers – there are about a dozen so far in the unit – could quit if their identity is revealed. He asked that none of his soldiers’ faces be shown in photographs.
乌克兰军队正面临严峻的兵员短缺问题。大多数愿意自愿参战的人已经应征入伍，且身心俱疲，而一些平民男性则选择躲藏起来以逃避动员。这使得人们的目光转向了另一类潜在的兵源：外国人。
Ukraine’s military is facing an acute manpower shortage. Most of those willing to volunteer to fight have done so, and are fatigued, while some civilian men have gone into hiding to avoid being mobilised. That has turned attention to another pool of potential recruits: foreigners.
目前约有1.6万名外国战斗人员在乌克兰，占武装部队总人数的不到3%。在7月被解职之前，国防部长米哈伊洛·费多罗夫通过了多项旨在简化外籍人员招募程序的改革措施。他预测，前线服役人员或突击部队中可能有50%是外国公民。但中国志愿者带来了独特的挑战。
There are about 16,000 foreign fighters in Ukraine, making up less than 3% of the armed forces. Before being sacked as defence minister in July, Mykhailo Fedorov passed several reforms designed to make foreign recruitment easier. He predicted that 50% of frontline service members or assault troops could be foreign citizens. But Chinese volunteers present a unique challenge.
一方面，他们极易受到本国政府的压力。中国当局对其公民保持着严密的监控。中国法律并未明确禁止公民加入外国军队，但多名在乌克兰的中国志愿者表示，安全部门曾就他们的工作情况对他们本人或其亲属进行过询问。
On the one hand, they are uniquely vulnerable to pressure from their own government. The Chinese authorities keep close tabs on their citizens. Chinese law does not specifically forbid citizens from joining foreign armies, but several Chinese volunteers in Ukraine said security services had questioned them or their relatives about their work.
中国外交部发言人表示，中方已多次发布安全提醒，“呼吁中国公民远离武装冲突地区……特别是避免参与任何一方的军事行动”。
A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry said it had issued multiple security alerts “to ask Chinese nationals to stay away from areas of armed conflict … and, in particular, avoid participation in any party’s military operations”.
另一方面，这些中国军人来自一个在乌克兰战争期间对俄罗斯提供了压倒性支持的国家。尽管中国声称保持中立，但自2022年以来，北京与莫斯科的贸易联系已增至创纪录的水平，并在多个场合提供了外交支持。此外，还有报道称两国之间存在高层军事合作，但中国对此予以否认。
On the other hand, the Chinese soldiers hail from a country that has provided overwhelming support for Russia during the war in Ukraine. Although China claims to be neutral, Beijing has increased trade links with Moscow to record levels since 2022 and provided diplomatic support on numerous occasions. There have also been reports, denied by China, of high-level military cooperation between the two countries.
一些人担心，在乌克兰的中国军人可能会向北京提供有用的军事情报。来自另一个旅的一名军官表示，在招募来自中国的人之前，他会“三思而后行”。
Some people worry that the Chinese soldiers in Ukraine could provide useful military intelligence to Beijing. An officer from another brigade said he would “think twice” before taking someone from China.
然而，缪斯对此并不在意。“在这种情况下，对我们指挥官来说，对乌克兰人民来说，谁来都行。因为人手不够，”他说。
Muse, however, is unbothered. “In this situation, for us commanders, for the Ukrainian people, anyone will do. Because there aren’t enough people,” he said.
此外，他补充道，中国人工作非常努力。蒂姆在该部队的主要工作是维修无人机。在一周内，他维修了大约10架“大疆”Mavic无人机和15架第一人称视角（FPV）无人机。缪斯对此印象深刻，开玩笑说：“一个中国人比十个乌克兰人更有用。”
Plus, he added, the Chinese work hard. Tim’s main job in the unit is repairing drones. In one week he repaired about 10 Mavics and 15 first-person view (FPV) drones. Impressed, Muse joked that “it is better to have one Chinese person than 10 Ukrainians”.
中国志愿者通过社交媒体和口口相传找到缪斯的部队。尽管基辅的中央当局会进行初步的背景调查，但缪斯委托蒂姆通过一系列面试来进行主要筛选。
Chinese volunteers find their way to Muse’s unit through social media and word of mouth. Although there are cursory background checks done by central authorities in Kyiv, Muse entrusts Tim to do the main screening, through a series of interviews.
蒂姆表示，他主要考察的品质是对乌克兰民主和主权的承诺，以及良好的沟通能力。他补充说：“我坚决反对接纳那些仅仅出于对自己国家的仇恨而参军的人。”他说，自今年一月加入该部队以来，他已经拒绝了30多名中国申请者，并试图排除有犯罪记录的人。
Tim said the main qualities he looked for were a commitment to Ukraine’s democracy and sovereignty and an ability to communicate well. He added: “I am firmly against accepting someone who is driven simply by hatred for his own country.”He said he had already rejected more than 30 Chinese applicants since joining the unit himself in January, and that he attempted to screen out people with criminal records as well.
但在外国雇佣兵这个 murky 的世界里，人们带着各种故事和说法，往往难以核实，对自己国家的不满常常是一个因素。36岁的瓦尼亚来自中国中部湖北省，今年夏天加入了该部队。
But in the murky world of foreign fighters, where people come with stories and claims that are often impossible to verify, dissatisfaction with one’s own country is often a factor. Vanya, a 36-year-old from central China’s Hubei province, joined the unit over the summer.
坐在前线附近一间小屋外的葡萄藤架下，被俄罗斯FPV无人机尾随，他说在中国的生活变得“令人窒息”。
Sitting under a trellis of grapevines outside a cottage near the frontlines, stalked by Russian FPV drones, he said life in China had become “suffocating”.
通过使用虚拟专用网络（VPN）绕过中国的互联网审查防火墙，他阅读了关于乌克兰战争的信息，并熟悉了“关于民主和自由的理念”。这种觉醒恰逢中国经济下行。他在家庭装修行业工作，收入在某些月份下降了多达50%。
Using a VPN to jump over China’s firewall of internet censorship, he had read about the war in Ukraine, and become familiar with “ideas about democracy and freedom”. That awakening coincided with China’s own economic downturn. His own income, working in home renovations, fell by as much as 50% in some months.
他长期以来对军事很感兴趣，但年龄太大，无法在中国入伍。瓦尼亚说，来乌克兰的决定“并非一时冲动”。“这是很多事情长期积累的结果：我对过去生活的厌倦，我对民主和自由的渴望，以及我对乌克兰的看法。”该部队的其他成员则声称抱有更强烈的意识形态。来自福建省的37岁的尼禄多年来一直在网上发帖支持乌克兰，成为一名知名网红。他的几个账号被删除；尼禄认为这是对他亲乌克兰观点的回应。
He had long been interested in the military, but was too old to enlist in China. The decision to come to Ukraine “didn’t come out of the blue”, Vanya said. “It was the result of a lot of things building up over time: my weariness of my previous life, my longing for democracy and freedom, as well as my views on Ukraine.”Other members of the unit claim a more fervent ideology. Nero, a 37-year-old from Fujian province, spent years posting online in support of Ukraine, becoming a well-known influencer. Several of his accounts were deleted; Nero thinks this was in response to his pro-Ukraine views.
他说，他因支持乌克兰而遭到疑似俄罗斯水军账号的攻击，这促使他走上了志愿参战之路。
He said the blowback he got from suspected Russian spam accounts for his support for Ukraine propelled him towards volunteering.
“我想：世界不应该是这样的。为什么我只是说了真话就要遭受这一切？”他在社交媒体上公开了自己的举动，结果招来更多骚扰。他抵达乌克兰时，网上出现了一张俄语“通缉令”，上面有他的真实姓名、出生日期和照片。这张通缉令看起来是伪造的，指控他“作为雇佣兵参与武装冲突”以及“非法越过俄罗斯联邦国界”。尼禄怀疑这是替俄罗斯工作的中国宣传机构制作的，并否认是自己所为，称公开身份使他陷入危险。
“I thought: the world shouldn’t be like this. Why should I suffer or go through all this just for speaking the truth?”His move, which he publicised on social media, led to more harassment. As he arrived in Ukraine, a Russian-language “wanted” poster, which included his real name, date of birth, and picture, appeared online. The poster, which appeared to be faked, accused him of “participating in an armed conflict as a mercenary” and “illegally crossing the state border of the Russian federation”. Nero suspected it was produced by a Chinese propaganda agency working on behalf of Russia, and denied making it himself, saying that revealing his identity endangered him.
直到最近，尼禄还是中国的一名项目经理，收入不错，如今他正在接受FPV无人机飞手训练。“我想让人们知道，并非所有中国人都支持俄罗斯的侵略。许多中国人像我一样善良，想要帮助乌克兰，”尼禄说。
Until recently a project manager earning a decent salary in China, Nero is now training to be an FPV drone pilot. “I want people to know that not all Chinese people support Russia’s aggression. Many Chinese people, like me, are kind and want to help Ukraine,” Nero said.
所有志愿者都一致认为，中国当局的审查将使他们难以回国。“如果我现在回去，就很难再出来了，”金木说。他本是焊工，现在做电气工程师，专攻炸药和电池。
All of the volunteers agreed that scrutiny from the Chinese authorities would make it difficult to return home. “If I go back now, it would be hard to leave again,” said Jinmu, a welder by trade, now working as an electrical engineer, specialising in explosives and batteries.
无论他们最终可能为和平或战争作出何种贡献，作为中国公民，他们的决定很可能会带来超出当前冲突本身、延续更久的后果。9月23日，该部队的一名中国同伴在俄军袭击中丧生。听到这一消息后，其中一名身为医生的志愿者决定离开。涅罗说，其余人员都坚持留下。
Whatever contribution they may ultimately make towards peace, or to war, as Chinese nationals their decision is likely to have consequences that last beyond the conflict that they are now a part of. On 23 September, one of their Chinese comrades in the unit was killed in a Russian attack. Upon hearing the news, one volunteer, a doctor, decided to leave. The rest, said Nero, insisted on staying.