Merz Warns of More Russian Hybrid Attacks, Reaffirms Support for Ukraine Ahead of Harsh Winter
On Thursday, October 1, 2026, Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned that Germany faced more hybrid attacks from Russia, as he pledged continued support for Ukraine ahead of what is likely to be its harshest winter since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. Reuters reported Merz speaking in Münster at the award of the 2026 Westphalian Peace Prize to the NATO alliance: 'We are preparing for further hybrid attacks, including serious ones.' German authorities have repeatedly accused Moscow of a hybrid campaign of drone and cyber attacks, including an attempted drone attack at Leipzig airport in August; Moscow rejects the accusations.
Merz said Germany wanted to re-establish stable, predictable relations with Russia at an appropriate time, but saw no sign Moscow was ready to end the war. Germany did not wish to humiliate the Russian people or destabilise the Russian state, he said, but Russia must end the war and refrain from hybrid attacks on Europe. His government has set aside hundreds of billions of euros to rebuild Germany's armed forces, and he argued that Germany, as the most powerful state in central Europe, bears a particular responsibility to help Ukraine through the winter.
Speaking the same day to a forum of Russia experts, President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was not about to attack foreign factories producing weapons for Ukraine, but that tracking them was a task for Russian intelligence. Russia has consistently dismissed Western hybrid-warfare accusations as baseless.
Domestically, Merz and his conservatives were weakened by September elections in two eastern states in which the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) triumphed. The AfD criticises Germany and its Western allies for supporting Ukraine with billions of euros in military aid, and wants to repair ties with Moscow and restore the flow of cheap oil and gas cut off since 2022. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte attended the Münster ceremony to receive the peace prize.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 布鲁塞尔北约总部前的成员国旗帜。摄影：Adrian Cadiz（美国国防部），公共领域，来源：Wikimedia Commons
