money Putin signs law scrapping military age limit in Russia, allowing over-40s to join and fight in Ukraine
Vladimir Putin on Saturday signed a law allowing Russia to recruit older soldiers.
An upper age limit of 40 was scrapped, leaving no formal maximum age of enlistment.
The move followed mounting casualties in Russia's three-month-old invasion of Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin on Saturday signed a law removing an upper age limit on the Russian military, meaning over-40s can now serve.
The law was passed just over three months after Russia invaded Ukraine, amid heavy Russian losses said to be limiting its ability to fight.
The invasion, which Putin and his inner circle expected to be swift and decisive, instead proved protracted and deadly for Russia.
Western officials estimate that some 15,000 Russians have been killed. Ukraine on Saturday claimed to have killed 30,000, while Russia has not given recent figures of its own.
The new law carries no specific upper age limit, allowing anybody of "normal working age" to fight, according to Russia's Novaya Gazeta newspaper.
The proposal was passed by Russian lawmakers earlier in the week and Putin's signature means the measure is now a law.
Lawmakers who argued in favor of removing the age limit said it would help recruit specialist troops such as doctors and engineers.
UK intelligence officials recently said Russia's losses have caused serious problems for its invasion, now focused on Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.
In one update, they said personnel problems had forced Russia to rely on mercenaries and irregular forces like militants from Chechnya rather than its main army.
In another, they predicted that commanders would rush exhausted troops back into fighting after capturing Mariupol without properly resting or re-equipping them, which is likely to lead to more deaths.
Ukraine has long accepted older fighters into its military. As part of its general mobilization as the invasion began, the country banned all men aged 18 to 60 from leaving in case they were needed to fight.
After weeks of apparent stasis in the attacks on the Donbas, Ukrainian officials have in recent days conceded that Russia is gaining ground.
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