EU defence commissioner Andrius Kubilius says Europe must be able to mobilise around 100,000 troops rapidly, warning that Russia could have that many soldiers massed at the EU and NATO border by 2030. A survey of eleven countries by Euromil, the European federation of military personnel associations, found recruitment and retention already rated as problematic or worse almost everywhere, despite an 800 billion euro rearmament push. Low pay, poor work-life balance and competition from the private sector are named as the main reasons soldiers leave after about ten years of service.
Source:
Euronews · Friday, 21 August 2026
Russian drones hit a shopping centre in Kryvyi Rih, President Zelensky's home city, in two waves half an hour apart on 21 August, killing at least 15 people and wounding some 130, including children. Zelensky said the second strike deliberately targeted the rescuers who had rushed to the first. He called it a terrorist act and repeated his call for tougher international consequences for Russia.
A local mayor from Chancellor Friedrich Merz's own CDU, Bernd Prange, donated 10,000 euros to the far-right AfD and publicly urged voters to back it in Saxony-Anhalt's state election in September. Merz's party has ruled out any deal with the AfD as part of the so-called firewall against the far right, but the party polls around 40 percent in the state. Prange's open letter, calling for Merz's removal, shows how thin that firewall has become at the local level.
