Ukraine did not officially take part in any operation to blow up the Nord Stream pipelines. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this at a press conference after the Northern European countries’ summit in Kyiv on 23 August.
The investigation is ongoing. The situation has been discussed with Germany at a high level.
“They know perfectly well that Ukraine was not behind either the implementation or the very concept of carrying out the relevant operation. We have nothing to do with it,” the president said.
Zelenskyy recalled that Ukrainian citizens are mentioned in the case and assured that the country is ready to help partners with the investigation.
“Believe me, there are constant contacts. It is very important for us that we do not lose our partnership, that we do not lose the trust of European countries that have been helping Ukraine since the very beginning of the war,” the head of state noted.
The Nord Stream Blasts
Explosions on the Russian gas pipelines occurred in September 2022. Preliminary findings by investigations in Sweden and Denmark indicate that the blasts were deliberate. The Ukrainian president has denied Ukraine’s involvement in the sabotage.
In November 2023, The Washington Post wrote that former intelligence officer Roman Chervinskyi may have been involved in the sabotage.
In November 2024, Germany’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office said it had identified two suspects in the Nord Stream blasts: a soldier and a professional scuba diver. At the same time, the identities of other participants, the motives for the crime and, in particular, the question of possible state control over the operation are still being investigated.
Germany suspects two Ukrainians — Serhii K. and Volodymyr Zhuravlov. The first was extradited from Italy and now already has an indictment, but the court has not yet delivered a verdict. The second was detained in Poland on a German warrant, but the court refused to extradite him. At the time, the Polish authorities said the problem was not that Nord Stream 2 had been blown up, but that it had been built.
In July this year, German prosecutors sent an indictment to court against Ukrainian citizen Serhii K. This is the first charge in the case. Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office said at the time that at this stage of the investigation, Ukraine’s involvement had not been established.
Volodymyr Zhuravlov was recently detained in Croatia. According to media reports, he may have advised the team behind a film dedicated to the pipeline blasts. Now a Croatian court must decide whether to do the same as its Polish counterparts and release Zhuravlov, or approve his extradition.