The war in Ukraine is now partly a battle for the attention of the White House.

In such circumstances, the capture of Chinese citizens on the battlefield is a boost to Kyiv and Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president.

Mr Zelensky wasted little time in casting the men as proof that “one more” nation – China – had joined the war against his country.

However, the truth may be more mundane – that these men are part of ragtag mercenary forces hoovered up by Moscow’s meat-hungry armed forces.

Nevertheless, their presence should complicate the Trump administration’s desire to look beyond Ukraine to what it sees as a looming, generational clash with communist China.

At the end of last month, Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, distributed an internal memo reorienting the US military towards deterring a Chinese invasion of Taiwan – and preparing it to win a potential conflict with Beijing.

Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, has claimed that the actions of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, will only end up being a small chapter in the history of the 21st century, with the rest taken up by America’s titanic contest with China.

It is no wonder that Mr Zelensky, in trying to win back the fading support of the US, will do everything he can to argue the two theatres cannot be so easily separated.

However, the sight of Chinese men fighting for Russia in Ukraine is not something new.

About a month ago, two alleged Chinese mercenaries were filmed scrawling graffiti over the walls of what was claimed to be an abandoned building.

They were seen wearing Russian-issued tactical gear and sporting the same white tactical recognition markings used by Moscow’s invasion force.