How to get European date format on iPad, with Region set to US?

Starting with iOSiPad version 10, dates were in European date format (DD.MM.YYYY), with region set to US, and a German keyboard. After upgrading to version 14, dates were in the American format (MM/DD/YYYY). If I set the region to Germany, I get the European format, but I lose access to Apple News. If I set the region to UK, I get the UK format (DD/MM/YYYY), but my son‘s phone number in the contacts list (445xxxxxxx) shows up as a UK number (+44 xxxx...). You would think that Apple could allow users to choose their desired date format!!!