Beijing: Beijing on Thursday stated it was 'still verifying' the information regarding Ukraine's claims of arresting two Chinese citizens suspected of smuggling classified documents. "If this is concerned with Chinese citizens, then the lawful rights of Chinese citizens need to be safeguarded," said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning during a live-streamed news conference in Beijing.

According to Anadolu Agency, Kyiv announced on Wednesday that it had detained two Chinese nationals in the capital, suspected of attempting to smuggle classified documents related to the Ukrainian RK-360MC Neptune missile system. The system gained notoriety for being used to sink the Russian missile cruiser Moskva, the former flagship of Moscow's Black Sea fleet, in 2022.

The Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) revealed that one of the detained individuals is a former student expelled from a technical university in Kyiv in 2023. The second individual is reportedly the student's father, who resides in China but frequently visited Ukraine to coordinate his son's alleged espionage activities. The SBU's statement also mentioned that the former student attempted to recruit a Ukrainian citizen involved in weapons development, and during searches, authorities seized 'phones with evidence' from the two suspects.

The SBU has indicated that the defendants could face up to 15 years in prison, along with the confiscation of property.