Overview

• Prime Minister Julija Swyrydenko announced that men aged 18 to 22 may cross Ukraine’s borders during martial law, including those currently abroad who can return and depart again.
• Conscription rules remain unchanged, with compulsory frontline service starting at age 25 and younger men eligible only as volunteers.
• A government draft to criminalize illegal departures with fines and prison terms faces resistance in the Verkhovna Rada, with leaders signaling skepticism and a revised proposal previously floated as a concession.
• Romanian border guards report roughly 5,000 Ukrainian men crossed into Romania in the first seven months of 2025 and more than 26,000 since 2022, as videos and local reports describe reinforced fences, cameras, drones and helicopter patrols along Ukraine’s borders.
• The Financial Times reports the United States is prepared to back a Europe‑led post‑war security framework with intelligence, surveillance, command‑and‑control support and air defense, a concept acknowledged by Andrij Yermak, with no U.S. ground troops planned; separate battlefield reports of Russian gains in Dnipropetrovsk are disputed by Ukraine’s military.