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Russia’s Medvedev Floats Idea of Pushing Back Poland’s Borders

Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, right, participates a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Alexander Garden during the national celebrations of the "Defender of the Fatherland Day" in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023. (AP)
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, right, participates a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Alexander Garden during the national celebrations of the "Defender of the Fatherland Day" in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023. (AP)
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Russia’s Medvedev Floats Idea of Pushing Back Poland’s Borders

Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, right, participates a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Alexander Garden during the national celebrations of the "Defender of the Fatherland Day" in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023. (AP)
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, right, participates a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Alexander Garden during the national celebrations of the "Defender of the Fatherland Day" in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023. (AP)

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday that the only way for Moscow to ensure a lasting peace with Ukraine was to push back the borders of hostile states as far as possible, even if that meant the frontiers of NATO member Poland.

Medvedev, who is now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, made the comments in a message on his Telegram account exactly a year after Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in what it called a "special military operation" to protect Russian speakers and ensure its own security.

Ukraine says it is defending itself from an unprovoked colonial-style war of aggression and has vowed to retake all of its own territory by force, including Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.

Medvedev, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, forecast on Friday that Russia would be victorious and that some kind of loose agreement would eventually end the fighting.

"Victory will be achieved. We all want it to happen as soon as possible. And that day will come," said Medvedev. He predicted that tough negotiations with Ukraine and the West would follow that would culminate in "some kind of agreement."

But he said that deal would lack what he called "fundamental agreements on real borders" and not amount to an over-arching European security pact, making it vital for Russia to extend its own borders now.

"That is why it is so important to achieve all the goals of the special military operation. To push back the borders that threaten our country as far as possible, even if they are the borders of Poland," said Medvedev.

Poland shares long eastern borders with Ukraine and with Russia's ally Belarus, and a frontier of some 200 km (125 miles) in its northeastern corner with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

Any encroachment on Poland's borders would bring Russia for the first time into direct conflict with NATO. US President Joe Biden pledged in a speech in Warsaw this week to defend "every inch" of NATO territory if it was attacked.

Medvedev, 57, has adopted an increasingly hawkish tone and made a series of outspoken interventions since the war began with some political analysts suggesting he is one of the people that Putin might one day consider as a successor.

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World

Fleet of 10 Japan-related Ships Exit Hormuz, Data Shows

Children wade in the water with cargo ships at anchor in the background and a fisherman nearby, in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)
Children wade in the water with cargo ships at anchor in the background and a fisherman nearby, in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)
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Fleet of 10 Japan-related Ships Exit Hormuz, Data Shows

Children wade in the water with cargo ships at anchor in the background and a fisherman nearby, in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)
Children wade in the water with cargo ships at anchor in the background and a fisherman nearby, in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)

A fleet of 10 Japan-linked vessels was exiting the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, shipping data on LSEG showed, after the ships were stranded in the Gulf for months because ‌of the ‌Iran war, Reuters reported.

The Japan-linked ships ‌include ⁠six very large crude ⁠carriers loaded with 12 million barrels of Middle Eastern crude, two chemical tankers, a vehicle carrier and a container ship, the data showed.

Most ‌of the vessels are managed by ‌Japanese shipper Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) which had said it would prioritize the safety of its seafarers, cargo and vessels when traversing the ‌strait.

Mitsui OSK declined to comment.

World

As Venezuela Quake Deaths Pass 3,000, Attention Turns to Mourning, Burials

At La Esperanza cemetery in La Guaira, gravediggers buried more than 150 bodies still unidentified since the earthquakes. Miguel MEDINA / AFP
At La Esperanza cemetery in La Guaira, gravediggers buried more than 150 bodies still unidentified since the earthquakes. Miguel MEDINA / AFP
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As Venezuela Quake Deaths Pass 3,000, Attention Turns to Mourning, Burials

At La Esperanza cemetery in La Guaira, gravediggers buried more than 150 bodies still unidentified since the earthquakes. Miguel MEDINA / AFP
At La Esperanza cemetery in La Guaira, gravediggers buried more than 150 bodies still unidentified since the earthquakes. Miguel MEDINA / AFP

Deaths from Venezuela's devastating twin earthquakes rose to at least 3,342 on Sunday as officials began to bury dozens of bodies left unidentified 11 days after the disaster.

The June 24 double shocks, one of Latin America's worst quake disasters, toppled scores of buildings in the La Guaira coastal area north of Caracas and left thousands of people missing, AFP said.

As international rescue teams packed up and ended attempts to find survivors, attention shifted to mourning those lost and burying the remains that families have recovered from the ruins.

In a secluded area of La Esperanza cemetery in La Guaira, gravediggers buried more than 150 bodies still unidentified since the earthquakes, AFP journalists saw.

A line of simple white crosses with small bouquets at their foot marked a long row of individual graves. Each one had the same date of death: June 24, 2026.

Two excavators were working to dig more graves in the light brown earth.

"We are first and foremost overcome with grief," said local resident Eli Zavala, who was helping with the burials.

"We started here on July 25th, the very next day, to do all the work...so that all those people could have dignified burials."

According to updated official figures on Sunday, at least 3,342 people died and another 16,700 were injured.

With nearly 200 buildings totally collapsed, most of them in La Guaira, more than 17,000 people have been left homeless and are sleeping in shelters and temporary camps.

The government has not given any figure for those still missing, but the UN estimates that as many as 50,000 people may still be unaccounted for after the shocks.

Many families are still trying to search for relatives in the rubble.

"I've lost track of the days. You lose your mind, but I'm not leaving here because I know he's there," said Zuly, looking for her son in Catia la Mar district.

She now sleeps in a plaza near where he worked.

"I found his motorcycle; I found his helmet. He's there, God willing, alive. If not, at least I can find him, see him...I'm not leaving here without my son."

'No social unrest'

Even before the quakes, Venezuela had been struggling with economic crisis and political upheaval that left infrastructure and health services depleted.

The UN estimates the quakes caused $6.7 billion in damage - equivalent to six percent of Venezuela's GDP.

The damaged international airport serving Caracas is still closed to commercial flights.

Soon after the quakes, many Venezuelans complained they were left alone to dig for families in the ruins and criticized the government's response until international teams arrived.

Interim President Delcy Rodriguez has defended the government reaction, saying thousands of public officials and rescue teams were dispatched.

On Sunday, she dismissed concerns about upheaval over the quakes.

"There will be no social unrest here, what we have here is deep social solidarity," Rodriguez said during a military ceremony marking the country's independence day.

Across Caracas and La Guaira, many were focused instead on Sunday services in churches to remember those lost and still missing.

On the campus of Venezuela Central University in Caracas, dozens of people gathered around a large Venezuela flag surrounded by candles for a vigil.

"I've met with couples who have lost both their children, or two of their three. It's very painful," Father Rafael Troconis told AFP in La Guaira.

"You try to offer support as much as you can. You want to be close to those who are suffering. You notice a lot of sadness and despair."

World

China’s Nanning on Top Alert as Typhoon Maysak Triggers Reservoir Breach

Floodwater flows down the side of a ramp at a construction site, amid heavy rain brought by Typhoon Maysak, in Guigang, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, in this still image obtained from social media video. (Social Media/via Reuters)
Floodwater flows down the side of a ramp at a construction site, amid heavy rain brought by Typhoon Maysak, in Guigang, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, in this still image obtained from social media video. (Social Media/via Reuters)
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China’s Nanning on Top Alert as Typhoon Maysak Triggers Reservoir Breach

Floodwater flows down the side of a ramp at a construction site, amid heavy rain brought by Typhoon Maysak, in Guigang, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, in this still image obtained from social media video. (Social Media/via Reuters)
Floodwater flows down the side of a ramp at a construction site, amid heavy rain brought by Typhoon Maysak, in Guigang, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, in this still image obtained from social media video. (Social Media/via Reuters)

Nanning, capital of China's southwestern Guangxi region, raised its flood control response to the highest level as rivers and reservoirs swelled with the passage of Typhoon Maysak, Chinese state media said on Monday.

Authorities in ‌Nanning, a ‌city of nearly 9 ‌million ⁠people, raised the flood ⁠control emergency response level to I from III due to "extremely heavy rain", China Central Television (CCTV) reported.

So far, one breach has been reported at a medium-sized ⁠reservoir in Nanning's Hengzhou, and ‌people in ‌the area were being evacuated, state-run ‌Xinhua news agency reported, citing ‌local authorities.

Maysak made landfall in the southern island province of Hainan on Friday, the first tropical cyclone to ‌reach the Chinese mainland this year.

The storm made its ⁠second ⁠landfall on Sunday in Vietnam, which shares a border with Guangxi.

Maysak is expected to weaken further as it moves inland, but remnants of the storm and seasonal southwestern rains will continue to bring heavy rainfall to Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, and other areas, according to Chinese meteorologists.