Russia may be spying on Ukrainian soldiers and volunteers training in Germany, that country’s military counterintelligence service (MAD) has said.
The revelation published in Germany’s news magazine Die Speigel said intelligence reports indicated that small drones flew over the locations where the exercises held and may have been observing the trainings. The security reports indicated that Russia may have attempted to scoop up the Ukrainians’ mobile phone data with special telecommunications equipment, using a device such as a stingray.
The training of Ukrainian soldiers is taking place in two military sites -Idar-Oberstein in Rhineland-Palatinate and Grafenwöhr in Bavaria. German military counterintelligence detected suspicious vehicles that could observe distances from the access roads to the barracks from their positions.
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.
The discovery comes after Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited the soldiers in northern Germany on Thursday, and praised their “courage.”
The Ukrainian troops are being trained in the use of German Gepard tanks which the German government has sent to Ukraine as part of a package to support Ukraine’s war efforts.