TOP HEADLINES

● Vladimir Putin has signed a new law that scraps the age limits for soldiers joining the Russian military as it seeks to recruit more troops to fight in Ukraine. Previously only Russians between 18 and 40 years of age were allowed to enlist. More details below.

● French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have asked Putin to release 2,500 Ukrainian fighters who were inside the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol. The request was made during a telephone call between the three leaders.

● Macron and Scholz also urged Putin to have "serious direct negotiations with the Ukrainian president and find a diplomatic solution to the conflict," Scholz's office said.

● Russia confirmed it had seized the strategic town of Lyman in eastern Ukraine, as it continues to move towards two key cities in the Donbas region still under Kyiv's control. More details below.

● Russia expects to receive $14.4 billion in additional oil and gas revenues this year, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said, and part of the money will be spent on the offensive in Ukraine.

● UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Volodymyr Zelenskyy he is working with allies to find solutions to resume the export of grain from Ukraine, during a conversation between the two leaders on the conflict.

● In his daily address, Zelenskyy said he was doing everything he could to defend the Donbas region but admitted the Russians had "concentrated maximum artillery" there as Kyiv considers a tactical retreat.

● Russia successfully test-fired a hypersonic Zircon cruise missile from the Barents Sea, hitting its target 1,000 kilometers away in the White Sea. Putin hailed the Zircon as part of a new generation of unrivalled arms systems.

● The former president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, accused Zelenskyy's government of breaking the political alliance in place since Russia invaded after he was barred from leaving the country to travel to a NATO parliamentary assembly meeting in Lithuania.

IN MORE DETAIL

Moscow scraps upper age limit for military

Russia's parliament fast tracked a law to remove the upper age limit for service in the military, as the country continues to suffer heavy casualties in Ukraine.

Lawmakers in the State Duma lower house approved the bill over three readings in a single session and on Saturday President Vladimir Putin signed the decree to make it law.

Previously only Russians aged 18-40 and foreigners aged 18-30 could enlist as soldiers in the military.

State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said, "We need to strengthen the armed forces and help the Ministry of Defense. Our Supreme Commander is doing everything to ensure that our armed forces win, and we need to help."

Russian forces have suffered significant losses fighting in Ukraine and Putin's government has not updated casualty figures since March when the defense ministry said 1,351 Russian service personnel had been killed and 3,825 wounded. Western intelligence officers at the time believed the numbers to be much higher.

Russia steps up battle for eastern Ukraine

Russia continued its onslaught on eastern Ukraine, saying it had captured the strategic town of Lyman.

Russia's offensive is now concentrated in the Donbas region, Ukraine's industrial center where President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Moscow of carrying out a "genocide."

"The town of Krasny Liman [Lyman] has been entirely liberated from Ukrainian nationalists," the Russian defense ministry said. Lyman lies on the road to Severodonetsk and Kramatorsk that are still under Ukrainian control and was seen as a strategic target.

Regional governor Sergiy Gaiday said Russian shelling continued on Severodonetsk as Ukrainian soldiers fought to oust the invading forces from a hotel on its edges, but rejected claims the city had been completely encircled.

"Severodonetsk has not been cut off... there is still the possibility to deliver humanitarian aid," he told Ukrainian television.

Cover image: Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik/AFP