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Zelensky signs law allowing Ukrainians over age 60 to enlist in army Deputy Irina Gerashchenko noted that the law does not clearly specify how the approval procedure for candidates would work, opening the door for potential abuses MOSCOW, July 29. /TASS/. Vladimir Zelensky has signed a law increasing the age limit for military service, potentially allowing seniors over 60 to enlist, the website of the Verkhovna Rada parliament said. On July 16, the Rada adopted the law in the second reading by 306 votes. Deputy Irina Gerashchenko explained that it would allow those who have already turned 60 to sign...

Alexander Avilov / Moskva News Agency Thousands of conscription-age Russian men appeared to be attempting to flee the country Wednesday as others planned how to avoid being sent to the front after President Vladimir Putin declared a partial military mobilization for the war in Ukraine. “I don't want to be cannon fodder,” one 30-year-old Muscovite who asked for anonymity to speak freely told The Moscow Times. The most obvious way for men to avoid conscription is to leave the country and Wednesday’s direct flights from Russia to Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan — nearby countries that allow Russians to enter...

Mansur was 13 when Russian soldiers destroyed his village of Samashki during Chechnya's first war for independence against Russia. Wielding flamethrowers, the Russians burned Mansur's neighbors alive in their homes, threw grenades into basements and executed men. Four years later, a truce disintegrated, and Mansur was back at war. He says he was never the same after. "Russia ruined everything I had. I grew up with war, and the war shaped me in all respects," Mansur, 40, says matter-of-factly. Mansur is one of more than 200,000 Chechens who fled to Turkey and Europe throughout the 2000s during a second war...