Federal Public Prosecutor's Office brings charges against Ukrainian over Nord Stream explosions
The 50-year-old soldier from Kyiv is said to have led a team of seven accomplices in the destruction of three of the four Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea.
Federal Public Prosecutor's Office brings charges against Ukrainian over Nord Stream explosions
Germany's Federal Public Prosecutor's Office has brought charges against a Ukrainian national in connection with explosions at the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September 2022. The man has been identified by media as Serhii K., a 50-year-old soldier from Kyiv, according to Digi24.ro.
The suspect was arrested in Italy in August 2025 on the basis of a German arrest warrant and subsequently extradited to Germany. Investigators accuse him of having led a group of seven co-perpetrators in the operation through which three of the four strategic gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea were destroyed. These lines transported Russian gas to Europe.
In September 2022, several detonations near the Danish island of Bornholm caused such severe damage to both Nord Stream pipelines that no gas could flow through them. Nord Stream 1 had previously delivered Russian natural gas to Germany, whilst Nord Stream 2 had not yet been commissioned.
The charges include serious allegations: attacks on civilian energy infrastructure – classified as a war crime under international law – causing an explosion, and destruction of structures. The defendant denies any involvement in the acts. His defence counsel expressed confidence that his client would be acquitted.
The attacks on the gas pipelines attracted worldwide attention in 2022. German investigators spent years searching for the seven-member group allegedly responsible for placing the explosives. Charges have now been brought for the first time against one of the alleged participants.
The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office assumes that the man coordinated the operation in the Baltic Sea. The state security division of the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court in Hamburg must now decide on the admission of the charges and set a date for the trial.
Source: Digi24