Germany may not send drones to help monitor the Ukraine-Russian border as promised, in part because the surveillance aircraft doesn't work in very icy temperatures, a lawmaker said Friday.

The "Luna" unmanned aerial vehicle does not work at below minus 19 degrees Centigrade (minus two degrees Fahrenheit), the lawmaker said, confirming a Bild daily report.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin have major differences over the origin and causes of the conflict in Ukraine, the Kremlin said following talks between the two leaders.

"There are still serious differences concerning the origin of Ukraine's internal conflict, as well as the root causes of what is currently happening," Russian news agencies quoted Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying early Friday.

Police in Germany have arrested a man on charges of belonging to a foreign terror organization during an extended trip to Syria, officials said on Thursday.

The 27-year-old German national, identified as Soufiane K., is alleged to have been a member of the Al Qaida-backed militant group Al-Nusra Front, the federal prosecutor general in Karlsruhe said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday there were plans for her to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin this week and that she hoped for "an open exchange of opinions" on the Ukraine crisis.

Both leaders will attend a two-day Asia-Europe meeting of leaders in Milan, Italy, starting Thursday and "there are plans for talks with the Russian president," Merkel said.

Inflation in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, remained stuck at an ultra-low level for the third month in a row in September, final data showed on Wednesday.

Confirming to a flash estimate released at the end of September, the federal statistics office Destatis calculated in final data that German inflation stood at just 0.8 percent year-on-year last month, unchanged since July.

The Turkish authorities have freed three German photojournalists arrested in the mainly Kurdish southeast of the country after holding them in custody for over a day, the reporters said Monday.

Freelance photo reporters Bjoern Kietzmann, Ruben Martin Neugebauer and Christian Grodotzki had been arrested late Saturday while covering a pro-Kurdish protest in the city of Diyarbakir.

Germany's foreign minister said Sunday that Berlin had made serious mistakes in its military engagement in Afghanistan since 2001 and warned against a hasty withdrawal.

Ahead of the end of U.S.-led NATO combat operations in the war-ravaged country this year, Frank-Walter Steinmeier offered a sobering assessment of the 13-year mission.

Germany's foreign minister said Sunday that Berlin had made serious mistakes in its military engagement in Afghanistan since 2001 and warned against a hasty withdrawal.

Ahead of the end of U.S.-led NATO combat operations in the war-ravaged country this year, Frank-Walter Steinmeier offered a sobering assessment of the 13-year mission.

Germany is urging Iran, Turkey and Arab countries to put their "old rivalries aside" to combat the Islamic State (IS) militants, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in an interview to appear Sunday.

"We are trying to persuade Arab countries, Turkey and Iran that we have to fight together against IS," he told the Tagesspiegel am Sonntag newspaper.

More than 20,000 Kurds protested against the Islamic State group in the western German city of Duesseldorf Saturday, according to the police.

Several Kurdish organizations called the demonstration to protest attacks by IS jihadist militants on Kurdish towns in Syria, particularly the besiegement of the city of Kobane.