Ukrainian Citizen Charged in Germany Over 2022 Nord Stream Sabotage

German federal prosecutors have filed charges against a Ukrainian national accused of directing a sabotage operation that damaged three of the four Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea in September 2022. The suspect, identified as Serhii K., was arrested in Italy in August 2025 on a German warrant, extradited in November and has been held in pre-trial detention in Hamburg.

Authorities allege K., a former soldier from Kyiv, led a seven-person team that used a sailing yacht, the Andromeda, to place four time-delayed explosive devices on the pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm. Traces of military explosives HMX and RDX were reportedly found on the vessel. The operation is said to have involved a skipper, an explosives expert and four deep-sea divers, and the charges include attacking civil energy infrastructure, which is classified as a war crime under international law.

"He was in command of the Andromeda and coordinated the placement of the explosives," prosecutors said.

K. has denied involvement. His lawyer told Reuters that he is confident the defendant will be acquitted. The prosecution claims the evidence includes intercepted phone calls made while K. was in custody in Italy, which they say implicate him directly. One of the alleged accomplices is reported to have been killed in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

German investigators say the team chartered the Andromeda in the port of Wiek on the island of Rügen no later than September 8, 2022, and attached the devices at depths of up to 80 metres. The explosives detonated on September 26, causing extensive damage to the pipelines, which were not in operation at the time.