President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied that Ukraine ordered the attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines. Speaking to reporters in Kyiv on Sunday during the Ukraine–Nordic-Baltic summit, four days after Croatian police arrested a second Ukrainian suspect, he said Ukraine had never even been involved in the idea of the operation and pledged Kyiv’s cooperation with the investigation.
Explosions ripped through three of the four pipeline strings near the Danish island of Bornholm on 26 September 2022. Sweden shut its inquiry in February 2024, citing a lack of jurisdiction. Denmark closed its own file later that same month, saying its investigation had confirmed deliberate sabotage but found no grounds for a prosecution. Germany pressed on alone. Two Ukrainian men now sit in custody because of that choice.
What Is Zelensky Saying
Zelensky picked his words carefully. He denied an official Ukrainian role. He did not address whether Ukrainian citizens acted on their own. Kyiv has repeated some version of that denial since the first week after the blasts.
German prosecutors take a different view. In July they charged former army officer Serhii K. — identified by Ukrainian and German media as Serhii Kuznetsov — naming him as the coordinator of a seven-person team that acted, prosecutors allege, on behalf of Ukrainian state entities. He denies everything. His trial is tentatively set to open in Hamburg on 26 October.
Two Divers, Three Countries, One Nord Stream Sabotage Case
Italian police detained Kuznetsov in August 2025 while he was on holiday on the Adriatic coast. He fought extradition through Italy’s courts; the country’s top court ultimately cleared the transfer in November, and Germany took custody that month.
The second man has proved harder to hold. Polish officers arrested Volodymyr Zhuravlov, 46, near Warsaw on 30 September 2025. On 17 October, Judge Dariusz Lubowski refused to extradite him and ordered his immediate release, ruling that the pipeline attack amounted to a military act in a “just war” and questioning whether Germany even had jurisdiction over an explosion in international waters.
Croatian police caught up with Zhuravlov in Pula on 19 August. A court there has ordered him held while it weighs Berlin’s extradition request. German prosecutors describe him as a trained diver who took part in the dives. He denies wrongdoing.
What Washington Knew Before the Nord Stream Sabotage
The American thread runs through the case, though no US official faces charges. Dutch military intelligence learned of a Ukrainian plot in June 2022 and alerted the CIA, which in turn warned Kyiv to stand down.
According to Wall Street Journal reporting from August 2024, Zelensky initially approved the plan but ordered it halted after the CIA’s warning; the field commander overseeing the operation, working under then-commander-in-chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi, allegedly pressed ahead regardless. Zaluzhnyi, now Ukraine’s ambassador in London, has denied any personal involvement. “I have absolutely nothing to do with this,” he told an audience at Chatham House in February.
Did Biden Order the Nord Stream Sabotage?
Seymour Hersh wrote in February 2023 that US Navy divers planted the charges during a NATO exercise on President Joe Biden’s orders. He cited a single anonymous source described as having direct knowledge of the operational planning.
The White House called the report “complete fiction.” The CIA also denied it. Biden never accepted responsibility, though he had remarked on 7 February 2022 that Washington would “bring an end” to Nord Stream 2 if Russia invaded — a comment made three weeks before the war began.
Where the Evidence Actually Sits
Germany’s indictment describes a Ukrainian crew, a chartered yacht out of Rostock, forged papers and a seven-person team, including divers, an explosives specialist and a skipper. That is the only version anyone has put before a court. Russia rejects it and argues no small team could have operated unseen in NATO-patrolled waters.
Moscow has pushed for an independent inquiry for years. The UN Security Council rejected its resolution on the matter in March 2023, with only China and Brazil joining Russia in favour; the rest of the Council abstained.
Two European courts have now effectively treated the attack as an act of war rather than a crime. Poland freed one suspect on that reasoning. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said the pipeline’s builders, not its attackers, should feel shame.
