The German federal prosecutor’s office believes he is the organizer of the gas pipeline explosion in 2022: the Ukrainian ex-soldier Serhij K.Image: keystone
July 9, 2026, 3:57 p.mJuly 9, 2026, 3:57 p.m
According to its own statements, the judiciary in Kiev has so far found no evidence of Ukrainian state authorities being involved in the blowing up of the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea in 2022.
However, the investigation continued; The public prosecutor’s office said they were working with the relevant authorities in Germany. “Ukraine is ready to help clarify all the actual circumstances,” it said.
In Germany it became known at the beginning of July that charges had been brought against the imprisoned Ukrainian ex-soldier Serhij K. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office – the highest German prosecution authority – believes he was the organizer of the explosions that took out the two natural gas pipelines between Russia and Germany at the bottom of the Baltic Sea in September 2022. The opening of a trial is still pending.
The explosion of the pipeline caused a whirlpool over a kilometer in diameter.Image: keystone
The charges brought in Hamburg do not mean a guilty verdict, wrote the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office. The authority based its own investigations into Nord Stream 1 and 2 not on the proceedings in Germany, but on investigations into all cases that may potentially constitute a Russian war crime.
Germany suspects sabotage on foreign orders
When asked during a visit to Dublin, President Volodymyr Zelensky did not comment on the charges. The German authorities assume that the sabotage was carried out on behalf of a foreign state. In 2022, Serhij K. was still an active soldier. However, the German Federal Court of Justice does not see him as a combatant who attacked a legitimate military target and would therefore be unpunished. (nil/sda/dpa)