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Poland Says Belarus Border Crisis May Be Prelude to 'Something Worse'

Migrants gather at a transport and logistics center near the Belarusian-Polish border in the Grodno region, Belarus, November 18, 2021. (Reuters)
Migrants gather at a transport and logistics center near the Belarusian-Polish border in the Grodno region, Belarus, November 18, 2021. (Reuters)
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Poland Says Belarus Border Crisis May Be Prelude to 'Something Worse'

Migrants gather at a transport and logistics center near the Belarusian-Polish border in the Grodno region, Belarus, November 18, 2021. (Reuters)
Migrants gather at a transport and logistics center near the Belarusian-Polish border in the Grodno region, Belarus, November 18, 2021. (Reuters)

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki warned on Sunday that the migrant crisis on the Belarus border may be a prelude to "something much worse", and Poland's border guard said Belarusian forces were still ferrying migrants to the frontier.

The European Union accuses Belarus of flying in thousands of people from the Middle East and pushing them to cross into EU and NATO members Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, in response to European sanctions.

Minsk, which denies fomenting the crisis, cleared a migrant camp near the border on Thursday and started to repatriate some people to Iraq, while Poland and Lithuania reported lower numbers of attempts to cross their borders in recent days.

But Morawiecki warned the crisis was far from over as he toured Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia on Sunday to discuss the situation.

A poll published by Poland's Rzeczpospolita daily on Sunday said 55% of Poles are worried the crisis on the border could escalate into an armed conflict.

"I think that the things that unfold before our eyes, these dramatic events, may only be a prelude to something much worse," Morawiecki said in Vilnius.

He pointed to increased Russian military presence close to Ukraine, as well as in Belarus and Russia's Kaliningrad enclave which borders Poland and Lithuania, as "an instrument which could be used directly for a direct attack".

The situation in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover "may be used as the next stage of the migration crisis," said Morawiecki.

Calls for support
Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte warned European partners to not ignore Belarus' neighbors, after German Chancellor Angela Merkel twice called Lukashenko looking for solution of the humanitarian crisis.

"For us, it is very important that any talks (with Belarus) are coordinated with Lithuania, Poland and Latvia, which are at the forefront of the hybrid attack, and no decisions are taken which do not solve the situation fundamentally", she said after meeting with Morawiecki on Sunday.

France's foreign minister said on Sunday that Russia had to exert pressure on its ally, Belarus, to end the migrant crisis.

Forcibly brought to border
Poland says Minsk continues to truck hundreds of foreigners to the frontier, where about 10 migrants are believed to have died with a frigid winter setting in.

"On Saturday ... a group of about 100 very aggressive foreigners, brought to the border by Belarusian servicemen, tried to enter Poland by force," the border guard said on Twitter on Sunday.

A dozen migrants from Iraq, speaking with Lithuanian news portal DELFI over the border with Belarus on Saturday, said they were forcibly brought there in military trucks by Belarus officials, who ignored their wish to go back to Iraq.

Hundreds of Poles took part in protests on Saturday to demand help for the migrants. The Catholic church organized a fundraiser on Sunday to collect money for those in need at the border and support the integration of refugees who will stay in Poland.

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World

Russia Hits Energy System in Several Regions of Ukraine, Kyiv Says

Local residents gather around a bonfire during an outdoor party to keep warm as many apartments remain without heating in Kyiv on January 18, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
Local residents gather around a bonfire during an outdoor party to keep warm as many apartments remain without heating in Kyiv on January 18, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
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Russia Hits Energy System in Several Regions of Ukraine, Kyiv Says

Local residents gather around a bonfire during an outdoor party to keep warm as many apartments remain without heating in Kyiv on January 18, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
Local residents gather around a bonfire during an outdoor party to keep warm as many apartments remain without heating in Kyiv on January 18, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)

Russia launched a barrage of drone strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure overnight on Monday, cutting off power in five regions ​across the country amid freezing temperatures and high demand, Ukrainian officials said.

The Ukrainian air force said that Russian troops had launched 145 drones. Air defense units shot down 126 of them, it said.

"As of this morning, consumers in Sumy, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, and Chernihiv regions are without power," the energy ministry said in a statement. "Emergency repair ‌work is ‌underway if the security situation ‌allows."

In ⁠the ​southern ‌Odesa region, energy and gas infrastructure was damaged, the regional governor said, adding that one person was hurt in the attack.

DTEK, Ukraine's largest private energy company, said its energy facility in Odesa was "substantially" damaged, knocking out power for 30,800 households.

A local power grid company in northern Chernihiv region said that ⁠five important energy facilities were damaged, leaving tens of thousands of consumers ‌without power.

Russia also hit Ukraine's second-largest ‍city of Kharkiv with missiles ‍on Monday morning, significantly damaging a critical infrastructure facility, ‍Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

Moscow has stepped up a winter campaign of strikes on the Ukrainian energy system, including generation, electricity transmission and gas production facilities, amid freezing temperatures that complicate repair works.

The ​attacks have caused long blackouts.

"Being without electricity for more than 16 hours is awful," Serhii Kovalenko, ⁠CEO of energy distribution company Yasno, said on Facebook late on Sunday. "And it's not because of the energy companies, but because of cynical attacks by the enemy, who is trying to create a humanitarian disaster."

Ukraine declared an energy emergency last week as its grid crumbled due to accumulated wartime damage and a new targeted wave of Russian bombardments.

Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Monday the government would implement projects to improve electricity transmission from the western part ‌of the country to its power-hungry east.

World

‘Not Right’ for Iran to Attend Davos Summit After Deadly Protests, Say Organizers

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaks in a joint press briefing with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (AP)
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaks in a joint press briefing with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (AP)
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‘Not Right’ for Iran to Attend Davos Summit After Deadly Protests, Say Organizers

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaks in a joint press briefing with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (AP)
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaks in a joint press briefing with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (AP)

Iran's foreign minister will not be attending the Davos summit in Switzerland this week, the organizers said Monday, stressing it would not be "right" after the recent deadly crackdown on protesters in Iran.

Abbas Araghchi had been scheduled to speak on Tuesday during the annual gathering of the global elite at the upscale Swiss ski resort town.

But activists have been calling on the World Economic Forum organizers to disinvite him amid what rights groups have called a "massacre" in his country.

"The Iranian Foreign Minister will not be attending Davos," the World Economic Forum said on X.

"Although he was invited last fall, the tragic loss of lives of civilians in Iran over the past few weeks means that it is not right for the Iranian government to be represented at Davos this year," it added.

Demonstrations sparked by anger over economic hardship exploded into protests late December in what has been widely seen as the biggest challenge to the Iranian leadership in recent years.

The rallies subsided after a government crackdown under the cover of a communications blackout that started on January 8.

Norway-based Iran Human Rights says it has verified the deaths of 3,428 protesters killed by security forces, confirming cases through sources within the country's health and medical system, witnesses and independent sources.

The NGO warned that the true toll is likely to be far higher. Media cannot independently confirm the figure and Iranian officials have not given an exact death toll.

World

Iran to Consider Lifting Internet Ban; State TV Hacked

People walk past a burnt-out building destroyed during public protests in the Iranian capital Tehran on January 19, 26. (AFP)
People walk past a burnt-out building destroyed during public protests in the Iranian capital Tehran on January 19, 26. (AFP)
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Iran to Consider Lifting Internet Ban; State TV Hacked

People walk past a burnt-out building destroyed during public protests in the Iranian capital Tehran on January 19, 26. (AFP)
People walk past a burnt-out building destroyed during public protests in the Iranian capital Tehran on January 19, 26. (AFP)

Iran may lift its internet blackout in a few days, a senior parliament member said on Monday, after authorities shut communications while they used massive force to crush protests in the worst domestic unrest since ​the 1979 revolution.

In the latest sign of weakness in the authorities' control, state television appeared to be hacked late on Sunday, briefly showing speeches by US President Donald Trump and the exiled son of Iran's last shah calling on the public to revolt.

Iran's streets have largely been quiet for a week since anti-government protests that began in late December were put down in three days of mass violence.

An ‌Iranian official ‌told Reuters on condition of anonymity that the ‌confirmed ⁠death ​toll ‌was more than 5,000, including 500 members of the security forces, with some of the worst unrest taking place in ethnic Kurdish areas in the northwest. Western-based Iranian rights groups also say thousands were killed.

Opponents accuse the authorities of opening fire on peaceful demonstrators to crush dissent. Iran's clerical rulers say armed crowds egged on by foreign enemies attacked hospitals and mosques.

The death tolls dwarf ⁠those of previous bouts of anti-government unrest put down by the authorities in 2022 and 2009. ‌The violence drew repeated threats from Trump ‍to intervene militarily, although he has backed ‍off since the large-scale killing stopped.

INTERNET TO RETURN WHEN 'CONDITIONS ARE APPROPRIATE'

Ebrahim ‍Azizi, the head of parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said top security bodies would decide on restoring internet in the coming days, with service resuming "as soon as security conditions are appropriate".

Another parliament member, hardliner Hamid Rasaei, said authorities should ​have listened to earlier complaints by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei about "lax cyberspace".

Iranian communications including internet and international phone lines were ⁠largely stopped in the days leading up to the worst unrest. The blackout has since partially eased, allowing accounts of widespread attacks on protesters to emerge.

During Sunday's apparent hack into state television, screens broadcast a segment lasting several minutes with the on-screen headline "the real news of the Iranian national revolution".

It included messages from Reza Pahlavi, the US-based son of Iran's last shah, calling for a revolt to overthrow rule by the clerics who have run the country since the 1979 revolution that toppled his father.

Pahlavi has emerged as a prominent opposition voice and has said he plans ‌to return to Iran, although it is difficult to assess independently how strong support for him is inside Iran.