Volunteers defy their government and public opinion in China to risk their lives for an adversary of Beijing’s main geopolitical partner

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.

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 just 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,” the father-of-two said, tears in his eyes at the memory. “I thought about the kind of anger that Chinese people have. Once it’s ignited … It’s intense. I decided to join the army.”