Ukraine: Zelenskyy to allow over-60s enlist in military – DW – 07/29/2025
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a law allowing people over the age of 60 to voluntarily join the armed forces, which have struggled to find recruits since the Russian invasion started in February 2022.
Meanwhile, a Russian attack has killed at least 16 inmates at a prison near Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian officials have said, with at least 35 more injured in the overnight bombing.
Eight strikes were reported as likely involving glide bombs, which also damaged nearby homes and left buildings inside the complex in ruins.
The Ukrainian president's chief of staff condemned the attack as a war crime.Polish authorities said a jailed Colombian man started two fires in Poland on behalf of Russia last year. Poland has a close political and military relationship with Ukraine and strained relations with Russia.
The 27-year-old man stands accused of setting fire to two material warehouses in Warsaw and Radom in 2024, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry in Warsaw said.
The fires were quickly extinguished, and no one was injured in either case.
The Colombian man had previously been trained by a person with links to Russian secret services, according to the Interior Ministry.
The public prosecutor's office is now investigating the man for working for a foreign secret service and for terrorism.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a bill on Tuesday allowing citizens over 60 to voluntarily join the military while the country is under martial law.
The new law allows people over 60 to sign one-year military service contracts if they pass a medical exam and receive approval from a unit commander.
Each recruit will face a two-month trial period, during which the contract can be terminated early if they are found unfit. While the law sets no maximum age for service, all contracts will automatically end when martial law concludes.
This measure expands Ukraine's recruitment pool by enabling older volunteers to serve in non-combat and specialized roles in Ukraine's ongoing manpower shortages.
The Kremlin has acknowledged a new ultimatum from US President Donald Trump, who has shortened his deadline for Moscow to move toward a ceasefire in Ukraine or face additional sanctions.
"We have taken note of President Trump's statement yesterday. The special military operation continues," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday during a press call, using Moscow's official term for the war. He added, "We remain committed to a peace process to resolve the conflict around Ukraine and to ensure our interests in the course of this settlement."
Trump, speaking Monday in Britain, gave Russia 10 to 12 days to show progress toward ending the war, citing frustration with the lack of results. "There's no reason in waiting... We just don't see any progress being made," he said.
The revised timeline accelerates a warning Trump issued on July 14, when he threatened new sanctions on Russia and countries purchasing its exports within 50 days — a deadline that would have expired in early September.
Trump, who has spoken with President Vladimir Putin multiple times since returning to the White House in January, also said he is "not so interested in talking anymore."
Missile and drone attacks have killed at least four people and wounded several others in Ukraine's central Dnipropetrovsk region, regional officials said Tuesday.
A strike on the city of Kamyanske killed two people, injured five, and damaged a hospital, according to regional military head Serhiy Lysak. Another person was killed and several wounded in an attack on the Synelnykivsky district.
In a separate strike on Velykomykhaylivska late Monday, a 75-year-old woman was killed and a 68-year-old man injured. A private home was also damaged, Lysak said.
Russian shelling has killed five civilians and wounded three others in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region, local police said Tuesday.
"According to preliminary data, five civilians were killed and three more were wounded to varying degrees as a result of the shelling," police said in a Telegram post, noting that Russian forces likely used a multiple launch rocket system.
The regional capital, also called Kharkiv, is Ukraine's second-largest city and serves as a major economic and cultural hub.
Russia has hit Kharkiv with multiple strikes in recent months, including one that damaged a maternity ward in July.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that a Russian airstrike on a prison near Zaporizhzhia was "deliberate" and not accidental, calling for increased international pressure on Moscow to end its attacks.
"It was a deliberate strike, intentional, not accidental," Zelenskyy said Tuesday in a social media statement. "The Russians could not have been unaware that they were targeting civilians in that facility."
He added that Russia "must be compelled to stop the killing and make peace."
A Ukrainian drone strike has killed one person in Russia's Rostov region, the area's acting governor, Yuri Sliusar, said Tuesday.
Sliusar reported that the victim died after a car was hit on Ostrovsky Street. He said multiple locations were targeted in the overnight attack, including Salsk, Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, Volgodonsk, Bokovsky, Tarasovsky, and Slyusar.
Debris also struck the Salsk train station, damaging both a freight and a passenger train. Passengers were evacuated, and no additional injuries were reported.
Ukrainian officials say a Russian airstrike has killed at least 16 prisoners at a detention facility near the front-line city of Zaporizhzhia.
Another 35 inmates were injured in the overnight attack, which also damaged multiple buildings within the complex, according to regional governor Ivan Fedorov.
Federov said the area was struck eight times overnight, likely by Russian glide bombs, and nearby homes were also hit. The wounded were receiving medical care, he added.
Glide bombs, launched from Russian aircraft over occupied territory, strike Ukrainian targets with little warning. Their speed and range make them difficult for Ukraine's air defenses to intercept while keeping the launch aircraft out of range.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, condemned the strikes as "another war crime" committed by Russian President Vladimir Putin's Kremlin.
"Putin's regime, which also issues threats against the United States through some of its mouthpieces, must face economic and military blows that strip it of the capacity to wage war," Yermak said on X.
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Welcome to DW's coverage of the latest developments in the Russian war on Ukraine.
You join us after Russia carried out eight strikes on the Zaporizhzhia region, hitting a prison where at least 16 people were killed.
The governor of Russia's Rostov region also said one person had been killed in a Ukrainian drone strike there.
Stay with us for the latest news and analysis from the ongoing war.
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