72% of Germans Doubt Bundeswehr in Insa Poll; Wadephul Condemns 'Missile Terror'

An Insa poll for Bild am Sonntag, conducted May 21-22 among 1,005 representative respondents, found that 72 percent of Germans believe the Bundeswehr could not adequately defend the country, while only 17 percent believe it could. Concern about a Russian conventional attack has fallen from a majority position in September 2025 to 38 percent, against 50 percent who say they are not worried. On hybrid threats the picture inverts: around two-thirds said they are worried about cyberattacks, sabotage or disinformation affecting life in Germany, while just over one in five said they were not.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz condemned what the federal government called the "reckless escalation" of Russia's overnight strike on the Kyiv region. Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul described the Russian salvo as "missile terror", calling the use of the Oreshnik intermediate-range missile a further escalation; he discussed additional financial support for Ukraine with counterparts at a NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Helsingborg. The studio of German broadcaster ARD in Kyiv was damaged in the same overnight attack, prompting condemnation from Germany's leading journalists' association.

A five-member Bundestag delegation led by Green Party lawmaker Till Steffen, chair of the Berlin-Taipei Parliamentary Circle of Friends, arrived in Taiwan to deepen parliamentary ties, and is scheduled to meet President Lai Ching-te on Tuesday and former president Tsai Ing-wen. The group, in Taipei until May 31, also includes CDU lawmakers Klaus-Peter Willsch and Markus Reichel, AfD MP Rainer Kraft and Mandy Eissing of the Left Party. Steffen told DPA that relations with Taiwan were "extremely important" to the Bundestag and that Taiwan was increasingly turning to Europe and Germany "amid waning support from the United States under the Trump administration", adding: "I would advise China not to interfere."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy formally rejected Merz's proposal to give Ukraine "associate" membership status in the European Union. In a letter to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Council President Antonio Costa seen by DPA, Zelenskyy wrote: "It would be unfair for Ukraine to be present in the European Union but remain without a voice", and demanded full membership. Merz had argued in his own letter to the two EU leaders that the accession process could not be completed shortly given "countless hurdles" and proposed allowing Ukrainian officials to take part in EU summits and ministerial meetings without voting rights -- a proposal first reported by DW on May 23 alongside the Tagespiegel's report that former chancellor Olaf Scholz is likely to chair a new North-South Committee on Global South relations.

Uber made a formal €33-per-share takeover offer for Berlin-based Delivery Hero, valuing the company at just over €10 billion; Uber already holds 19.5 percent of Delivery Hero's stock and options on a further 5.6 percent. CDU MP Alexander Throm called for tightening German naturalisation rules after 309,852 people took German citizenship in 2025 -- a 6 percent rise on 2024 driven by the 2024 reform allowing dual citizenship and shorter residency -- proposing the period be extended back to eight years and dual citizenship abolished; the Union had failed to push the changes through coalition talks with the SPD.