German far-right party taunts chancellor after its election triumph. He says it won't win a majority

BERLIN (AP) — A leader of Alternative for Germany taunted Chancellor Friedrich Merz in parliament Wednesday after it thrashed his party in a regional election. The German leader countered that the far-right party won't win a majority in the country, assailing its stance toward Ukraine and rhetoric on migration.

Merz is under pressure after Alternative for Germany, or AfD, surged to its biggest win yet in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday, while the chancellor's center-right Christian Democratic Union lost about half its support in the election.

The result underlined AfD's skill in harnessing discontent with issues well beyond its core theme of curbing immigration as an unpopular national government struggles to turn around a stubbornly sluggish economy.

Two more states are scheduled to hold elections on Sept. 20: Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, an eastern state where AfD is strong but Merz's CDU has long been weak.

AfD's national co-leader, Alice Weidel, told Merz as she opened the annual budget debate in parliament that “in Saxony-Anhalt, people didn't just punish you, they pulverized your party.”

“You haven't understood the message that voters in Saxony-Anhalt sent you on Sunday,” she said. “But that isn't relevant because your time has run out anyway. Citizens want a change of policy and they will get it.”

Weidel predicted future elections will produce “a clear mandate to govern” for her party.

A combative Merz responded that AfD's state election result was “remarkable” but noted the party said during the campaign it would only govern with an absolute majority and then missed that target.

Voters “gave us, me as well, a clear message. But you don't have the absolute majority, and you won't achieve it in Germany. You won't get majorities anywhere in Germany with these policies,” Merz said. “You are, and remain, Ms. Weidel, a destructive force.”

Merz pointed toward Weidel's comments on Ukraine. AfD opposes aid to the country and advocates lifting sanctions against Russia.

“While the U.S. is making another attempt to end the murderous Ukraine war, you are stepping up the war propaganda and the confrontation with Russia, and burning the last bridges to distract from your own disastrous political record,” Weidel told Merz.

The chancellor vowed Germany will continue supporting Ukraine, and told AfD lawmakers that “your reactions only show that you obviously intend to continue the downright grotesque inversion of perpetrator and victim.”

He said “you clearly continue to stand by Russia when it comes to defending our freedom,” and noted Weidel didn't mention an attempted drone attack at Germany's Leipzig/Halle airport, which the government last week blamed on Russia.

Merz, whose government has moved to toughen migration policy, also attacked AfD's use of the politically charged term “remigration” while pushing for more deportations.

“The word ‘remigration’ is nothing but a synonym for ethnic cleansing according to origin and skin color,” Merz told lawmakers, contending that implementing it would mean hospitals, nursing homes, restaurants and many businesses would be unable to work.

“That we must deport more is a consensus in the (governing) coalition,” Merz said, but it differentiates between people who work and are welcome in Germany and those who don't have a right to residence.

AfD's victory in Saxony-Anhalt was applauded by far-right parties across Europe. It also caught the attention of U.S. President Donald Trump.

“Wow! The Populist Party in Germany just had a really big night,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform Tuesday.

“They finally got tired of the absolutely horrible Immigration rules and regulations which have hurt Germany so badly,” Trump added, without mentioning the party by name. “THEY ARE ON THE RISE, and not going to take it anymore!”

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz participates in the general debate as part of the budget deliberations in the Bundestag, in Berlin, Wednesday Sept. 9, 2026. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz looks at federal chairwoman and parliamentary group leader of the AfD Alice Weidel as she opens the general debate as part of the budget deliberations in the Bundestag, in Berlin, Wednesday Sept. 9, 2026 (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz looks on during the general debate as part of the budget deliberations in the Bundestag, in Berlin, Wednesday Sept. 9, 2026 (Christoph Soeder/dpa via AP)

Federal chairwoman and parliamentary group leader of the AfD Alice Weidel opens the general debate as part of the budget deliberations in the Bundestag, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz sitting on the background, in Berlin, Wednesday Sept. 9, 2026 (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy chided the international community Wednesday for not taking a tougher stance against Russia over its escalating bombardment of civilian areas of Ukraine.

At the end of August, Russia launched a week of nighttime and daylight attacks on Kyiv in its heaviest sustained bombardment of the Ukrainian capital since its full-scale invasion began more than four years ago. The relentless missile and drone strikes have continued this month and aim to sap civilian morale, Ukrainian officials say.

International economic sanctions on Russia and efforts to isolate Moscow diplomatically haven’t stopped the invasion. Zelenskyy urged countries to step up the pressure.

“Unfortunately, there has been too little response from the international community to these strikes, which are taking people’s lives practically every day,” he said on social media.

“But a response is needed — Moscow must not go into the winter believing that it can get away with missile and drone terror without consequences,” he said.

The United Nations said last month that increasing Russian aerial attacks killed or wounded more Ukrainian civilians in July than in any month since March 2022, with 437 killed and more than 2,600 wounded.

In all, more than 16,800 Ukrainian civilians have been killed and more than 51,000 wounded since the Russian invasion, according to the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.

The U.S. has renewed its push to end the fighting, sending special envoys over the weekend to Kyiv and Moscow, although Washington’s efforts haven’t yet delivered any substantial progress. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said late Tuesday that the Ukraine-Russia talks were “substantive” but much remains to be done.

Russia's aerial attacks overnight into Wednesday killed at least two people and wounded seven, Ukrainian officials said, as Moscow fired ballistic and cruise missiles as well as drones at six regions.

Four of the wounded were in a 22-story residential building in Kyiv’s Darnytskyi district, where a drone damaged the 11th floor and started a fire on the 12th floor, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.

Olha Smal, 62, who lives on the 12th floor, said the blast wave flung her across her kitchen. One of her bedrooms caught fire, and smoke quickly filled the apartment, she said. Her pregnant neighbor was wounded.

“You live one day at a time. You don’t know what will happen to you tomorrow, or even what will happen today,” she told The Associated Press. “It’s very, very hard.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that its forces hit a drone factory warehouse in Kyiv.

It also claimed strikes on fuel reservoirs and an electric substation in the port city of Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine.

The Russian military also struck a ship heading to Odesa with military cargo and logistical facilities at Ukraine’s Starokozache border crossing with Moldova, the ministry said. The border strike killed two people, Ukrainian authorities said.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine is responding to Moscow’s strikes with daily long-range attacks on infrastructure deep inside Russia.

He said the latest Ukrainian strikes targeted Novorossiysk, a Black Sea port in Russia’s Krasnodar region. The attack hit a naval base, including a terminal used to load oil, military port facilities, and warships carrying cruise missiles, according to Zelenskyy.

The Novorossiysk naval base is a key hub for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, providing maintenance and logistical support for its ships, according to Ukraine’s General Staff.

Krasnodar Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev said that four people, including a child, were killed and 29 others were wounded in the drone attack on Novorossiysk.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 596 Ukrainian drones from late Tuesday until early Wednesday.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Firefighters work on a partially damaged residential building following a Russian drone attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Firefighters work on a partially damaged residential building following a Russian drone attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Locals watch as firefighters work on a partially damaged residential building following a Russian drone attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

A woman peers from a window of a partially damaged residential building following a Russian drone attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)