Germany news: 2 men charged with planning attacks for Russia

Prosecutors in Germany on Tuesday charged two Ukrainian nationals for allegedly plotting arson and explosive attacks on behalf of Russian intelligence services.

The two men — identified only as Daniil B and ⁠Vladyslav T as per German privacy laws — are accused of sending parcels with tracking devices inside them from Cologne to Ukraine as part of plans for a sabotage operation, the indictment brought by the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court said.

According to federal prosecutors, the men allegedly planned to post packages containing explosive devices that "ignite in Germany or elsewhere on their way to parts of Ukraine not occupied by Russia" to cause "as much damage as possible in order to undermine the population's sense of security."

The men were arrested in May along with a third Ukrainian, Yevhen B, who is believed to be an accomplice and who was arrested in Switzerland.

The third man was recently extradited to Germany and is expected to be charged soon, the Federal Prosecutor's Office said.

The men's arrest came after multiple incidents involving detonating parcels at European mail depots in 2024.

European officials have pointed to those cases and other examples of sabotage as evidence of a growing threat of hybrid attacks from Russia in the wake of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Russia has denied any involvement.

German car manufacturing giant Volkswagen (VW) reported a drop in sales of 1.4% for 2025, with low demand in China and the US being the main reasons, the company said on Tuesday.

Sales in China fell 8.4% — with a total of 2.02 million vehicles sold — amid what VW called "challenging market conditions" as it faces competition from domestic electric car production.

Sales were similarly down in the US, by 8.2% — 544,000 vehicles sold — thanks to US tariffs leaving a "marked impact."

At the same time, sales were up in Europe (5.1%) and South America (18.5%). The total number of vehicles sold from the VW core brand was 4.37 million.

Other brands belonging to the Volkswagen Group, including Audi, Skoda and Bentley, among others, also saw a slight fall in sales, down around 0.5% in 2025.

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Police in the eastern German town of Sömmerda were left baffled after being called to the scene of a robbery, only to find that a grand total of one jar of sausages had been pilfered after thieves broke into an apartment.

Hailed by the German press agency DPA as the "Wurst heist ever," police said on Tuesday the value of the missing jar of Knackwurst was around €3 ($3.50).

The incident took place last Thursday, not far from the city of Leipzig, with the 29-year-old victim left wondering why the thieves had even bothered to break in.

Police said the damage caused to the door will likely "far exceed" the value of the sausage swag.

An investigation is already underway.

Sondervermögen, which means "special fund," has been picked as the worst German word of the year by a jury at Marburg's Philipps University.

The panel said the word was "misleading" after being bandied about in the Bundestag.

The word had its time in the limelight thanks to a deal between the now co-ruling conservatives and Social Democrats to set up a €500-billion ($583-billion) special fund to invest in infrastructure and climate protections over the next decade.

The jury argued that the euphemistic way the word has been used hides the fact that it means taking on debt.

Four linguists, a journalist and one rotating member are responsible for picking the worst word.

The criteria for this "non-word" are terms and expressions that violate the princples of human dignity or democracy, discriminate against social groups, or are considered to be misleading or euphemistic

A majority of 62% of respondents said that Germany should offer military support to NATO ally Denmark, if the US were to attack Greenland, according to a survey published in Stern magazine on Tuesday.

Around a third of respondents were against military support for Denmark.

The most support was seen among voters of the Greens, the CDU/CSU, the Left Party and the Social Democrats (SPD).

Among supporters of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), a majority (59%) were against military support in the case of a US attack.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul met with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in New York on Monday evening.

Wadephul said Germany wants to secure more senior positions within the United Nations, saying the representation it currently has does not reflect Germany's influence and level of financial and international engagement.

The foreign minister was careful not to make his comments sound like an ultimatum, saying that German engagement in the UN would continue even when decisions are made that don't align with German interests.

"But it must be clear for the future that Germany wants to have a place at the UN table," he said.

Wadephul also suggested Germany could host more UN agencies. Several are already located in the former West German capital, Bonn.

Guterres was receptive to Germany's concerns, Wadephul said, and was confident its position would also be well received by the wider organization.

Before his meeting with Guterres, Wadephul met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Despite having warm words for his US counterpart, Wadephul was critical of the US position on the UN.

"The United States has been crucial in shaping and building the international order for decades," Wadephul said. "That they are now withdrawing from several organizations is regrettable."

The German chancellor considers the current Iranian leadership to be facing its end amid the mass protests that have shaken Iran since late December and which have been met with deadly repression from the state.

"If a regime can only stay in power through the use of violence, then it is effectively finished," Merz said on Tuesday during a visit to Bengaluru in India.

"I assume that we may now be witnessing the final days and weeks of this regime."

Merz has made no secret of his hope for an end to the regime in Iran, saying last June during its bombing campaign on Iran that Israel was doing the "dirty work for us."

Friedrich Merz is due in Bengaluru, often called India's Silicon Valley, after meeting PM Modi in Ahmedabad.

The visit comes just weeks ahead of plans to sign a long-awaited free trade agreement between India and the EU.

Heavy snows last week brought German trains to a halt in large parts of the country's north.

Lawmakers from across the spectrum have called for Germany's rail network operator Deutsche Bahn (DB) to be held to account.

For its part, DB said it was well prepared for such extreme weather, with more than three-quarters of rail switches being heated to prevent freezing up, German public broadcaster Tagesschau reported.

The problem, the company said, is that northern Germany is so flat that it is hit worse by cold weather and even heated switches cannot function when covered in snow.

Hundreds of DB employees were sent out to manually clear tracks of snow, but the rail passenger association Pro Bahn told the Spiegel magazine there were not enough employees for this job, and fewer than there used to be.

Dirk Flege, the head of the interest group Allianz pro Schiene, said the main reason for the widespread cancellation of trains was the focus on punctuality figures, since cancelled trains aren't included in the statistics and therefore don't bring down the overall punctuality score, something DB has struggled with for years.

Flege also criticized, as quoted by Tagesschau, that DB is expected to make a profit. Under the pressure to cut costs, the vehicle fleet is not expanded enough to meet the needs of extreme weather.

He also pointed to countries like Austria and Switzerland, where the kind of travel chaos seen last week rarely happens. But DB says this argument doesn't hold up since the impacted rail network in northern Germany alone is almost as big as Austria's entire rail network.

Strict protocol normally governs trips like this. Schedules are choreographed to the minute, printed in advance, and rarely adjusted—except in moments of acute geopolitical turbulence, as during the recent Middle East escalation. The structure provides predictability for everyone involved: diplomats, advisers, drivers, logisticians, journalists, and their newsrooms at home.

But keeping the US engaged—and ensuring Germany stays engaged with the US—demands a different approach. For a German foreign minister, representing the world’s third-largest economy, and his team, flexibility becomes the currency of access. And in Washington, one thing is unmistakable: the Germans want something from the Americans. Some would say more than the Americans want from them. So they take whatever slot, however small, is offered.

On Sunday, word comes that Secretary of State Marco Rubio won’t make the planned Monday morning meeting. Schedules are tossed, security checks reshuffled, driver logistics reworked for the afternoon. At least that frees up time for the World Bank president. Rubio ends up talking slightly longer with Wadephul than planned? No complaint—they grab every minute, skip their train to New York, and rebook everything for a later departure. A potential opportunity for further political talks on Tuesday? The entire trip is extended.

Until the final hours, the German foreign minister keeps his schedule open, determined to stay responsive to Washington’s shifting priorities and messaging. Wadephul wants to wring every drop of political value out of his US visit.

Substantively, his message remains steady: both sides need each other. Disagreements—whether over Venezuela, Greenland, or Russia—are normal among partners. What you won’t hear from him is the German finance minister’s phrase “alliance in dissolution.”

The dynamic is clear: the Germans are seeking something from the Americans, perhaps more than vice versa. After meeting Rubio, Wadephul appears alone before the press and spends 15 minutes describing the shared interests binding the transatlantic partners. Two hours later, the State Department releases a 14-line readout.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Monday played down suggestions that the United States could invade Greenlandwith its military.

Speaking after a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Wadephul said there was "no reason" to believe that such action was being "seriously considered" and insisted that NATO members shared a common interest in ensuring security in the Arctic.

"The United States stands at Europe's side and is fully committed to defending law and freedom in the western world," Wadephul said. "Of that there is absolutely no doubt. I would advise us Europeans not to start doubting things which aren't being doubted in Washington."

Looking ahead to talks between Rubio and the Danish foreign minister later this week, Wadephul said he had "no doubt that these will take place in a friendly and cooperative manner," and rejected suggestions that the United States under President Donald Trump has turned its back on the common values underpinning NATO.

A jury of linguistic experts in the western German town of Marburg are set to announce their "word of the year" – in a negative sense.

There are several "word of the year" (Wort des Jahres) competitions in Germany, with the 2025 prize going to KI-Ära (AI era) in recognition of the emergence of artificial intelligence into the public mainstream, and "Das crazy" winning Youth Word of the Year.

But the negative non-word of the year (or Unwort des Jahres) aims to raise awareness of less pleasant phrases or terms which may be discriminatory or inappropriate but which have nevertheless established themselves among German speakers.

The first ever "Un-Word" of the year was crowned in 1991, with the dubious prize going to ausländerfrei (foreigner-free), while last year's "winner" followed an unfortunately similar theme: biodeutsch ("biologically German" as opposed to naturalized German citizens).

Other controversial terms which have been highlighted in recent years include: Remigration, Klimaterroristen (climate terrorists), Klimahysterie (climate hysteria) and alternative Fakten (alternative facts).

Guten Morgen! Welcome to DW's coverage of what Germany is talking about on Tuesday, January 13.

While German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has been in India, Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil and Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul are in Washington. Wadephul met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday as well as United Nations chief Antonio Guterres.

Back in Germany, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is due to meet the European Union's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas in Berlin on Tuesday afternoon.

Elsewhere, a suspected member of the Lebanese Islamist group Hezbollah is set to go on trial in Berlin while, in Düsseldorf, six suspected members of a left-wing extremist organization are accused of attempted murder.