German Investigators Suggest Ukrainian Military May Have Ordered Nord Stream Pipeline Blasts.
German authorities investigating the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines believe the operation carried out by a team aboard the sailing yacht Andromeda may have been ordered by former Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander Valerii Zaluzhnyi, now Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Kingdom.
Sources cited by the newspaper indicate that investigators from Germany’s Federal Police and Federal Criminal Police Office consider the case largely solved. Reports published in late August by Süddeutsche Zeitung, Die Zeit, and ARD reportedly provide substantial evidence linking Ukrainian authorities to the underwater explosions in the Baltic Sea.
However, German intelligence agencies reportedly remain skeptical about the story involving the sailing yacht. Officials noted that the crew’s behavior appeared highly suspicious and the quantity of evidence seemed unusually abundant, creating the impression that investigators were being guided toward a particular conclusion. Another source dismissed such doubts as “nonsense.”
Meanwhile, 49-year-old Ukrainian national Serhiy K., believed by German authorities to have led the operation, is in a high-security prison in Italy and denies the charges, according to his lawyer, Nicola Canestrini. Canestrini also said that the Ukrainian embassy has not contacted K. since his detention, despite his prior service as a Ukrainian army officer until the end of 2023.
German prosecutors reported that K. was arrested on August 21 in the Rimini province, Italy, and faces charges including participation in a group explosive attack, anti-constitutional sabotage, and destruction of infrastructure. Preliminary findings indicate that K. coordinated the planting of explosives on the pipelines near Denmark’s Bornholm Island in September 2022, using the sailing yacht Andromeda, which departed from Rostock harbor, to transport the devices.
