Ukraine updates: Russia spied on Ukrainian forces in Germany

Germany's military counterintelligence service (MAD) has indications Russia spied on Ukrainian soldiers training in Germany, news magazine Der Spiegel reported on Friday.

Following the start of the training course at two military sites, German military counterintelligence detected suspicious vehicles that could observe distances from the access roads to the barracks from their positions.

Ukrainians are training at Idar-Oberstein in Rhineland-Palatinate and Grafenwöhr in Bavaria. Russia is said to have spied on both locations.

The Bundeswehr is training Ukrainian soldiers on the self-propelled howitzer 2000 in Idar-Oberstein. In Grafenwöhr, US forces are training Ukrainians on Western artillery systems.

Small drones also flew over the locations to observe training exercises. Security sources also told the magazine that Russia may have attempted to scoop up the Ukrainians' mobile phone data with special telecommunications equipment, using a device such as a stingray.

Here's a roundup of some of the other key developments regarding Russia's invasion of Ukraine on August 26.

Ukraine says two reactors at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant reconnect to its grid

Ukraine's state nuclear company Energoatom said that two reactors at its Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant had been reconnected to the Ukrainian grid (one during the day, the second in the evening) and were again supplying Ukraine with electricity.

Europe's largest nuclear power plant, which is located in southern Ukraine, was disconnected from the Ukrainian grid for the first time in its history on Thursday after a fire caused by shelling damaged a power line, Ukraine said earlier.

Prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Zaporizhzhia supplied roughly one-fifth of Ukraine's electricity. It is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.

In March, Russian forces occupied the plant, though Ukrainian engineers from Enerrgoatom remain responsible for the plant's day-to-day operations under exceedingly difficult circumstances.

The plant has been repeatedly hit with shells in the last two weeks. Kyiv and Moscow point the finger at the other side for the shelling.

The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has called for the demilitarization of Zaporizhzhia.

Ukraine to expand mandatory evacuations on front lines

Ukraine plans to expand the number of districts on the war's front lines where civilian evacuations will be mandatory, as those areas could be occupied and face central heating problems this winter, deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Friday.

She said evacuating women with children and elderly people would be a priority from some districts of the eastern Kharkiv region and the southern Zaporizhzhia and Mykolaiv regions.

The Ukrainian government launched a campaign of mandatory evacuations in July for people in the eastern Donetsk region that it began implementing this month.

German foreign minister signals openness in Russian entry ban debate

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock signaled a willingness to compromise over restricting the rights of Russian tourists visiting the EU, as some European countries demand a tough and united line in response to Moscow's war on Ukraine.

At a joint press conference with her Danish counterpart Jeppe Kofod in Copenhagen, Baerbock said that the German Chancellor's Office and Foreign Ministry agreed that a solution must involve all of Europe.

European countries have so far failed to agree on a possible measure. Some EU members that border Russia, including Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and the Czech Republic, have already curtailed the rights of Russians to visit those countries.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has so far been reluctant to impose a general entry ban for Russian citizens, arguing that such restrictions could make it harder to admit those who oppose Moscow's invasion of its neighbor.

Baerbock said on Friday that Scholz had never rejected the idea of entry restrictions absolutely, adding that positions inferred from interviews do not necessarily reflect the nuances of a politician's actual stance.

EU presidency to convene 'urgent' energy talks

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Friday that the EU presidency held by his country would convene urgent talks to deal with the current energy crisis following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Czech presidency "will convene an urgent meeting of energy ministers to discuss specific emergency measures to address the energy situation," Fiala wrote on Twitter.

Approved by European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen, the move comes as the 27-nation bloc is trying to shed dependence on supplies of Russian oil and gas following the Ukraine invasion that started on February 24.

Reduced supplies and anxiety over the future have sparked a rocket growth in energy prices across Europe.

Russia burning off significant amounts of natural gas on Finnish border

Russia has opted to burn off large quantities worth an estimated $10 million (€10 million) of natural gas near its border with Finland rather than export that energy to Germany, the BBC first reported.

Scientists are concerned about the significant volumes of carbon dioxide and soot in the atmosphere, potentially causing the Arctic to melt even faster.

Rystad Energy's analysis suggests Russia is flaring 4.34 million cubic meters (153 million cubic feet) of gas daily.

Over the summer, Finnish residents near the border with Russia saw a large flame on the horizon coming from the Portovaya liquefied natural gas plant northwest of St. Petersburg. 

Portovaya is located near the start of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which delivers natural gas to Germany via an underwater Baltic Sea pipeline.

More on the war in Ukraine

A report from the Cluster Munition Coalition, a nongovernmental organization, says Russia has made extensive use of the explosive bomblets in Ukraine. 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met with Ukrainian troops training in Germany. 

Consumer confidence in Germany has taken a thrashing as many worry about soaring energy bills come winter due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

More in Thursday's updates.

ar/sms (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)