Nord Stream: Germany puts suspected Ukrainian pipeline saboteur on trial

The aerial photos made headlines worldwide: On September 26, 2022, massive quantities of methane gas bubbled on the surface of the Baltic Sea near the island of Bornholm. Unknown people had blown up three of the four sections of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines from Russia to Germany.

The attack, which occurred seven months after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, meant the end of a mega energy project between Germany and Russia in which both sides had invested billions, and which secured affordable Russian gas for Germany. However, the flow of gas via Nord Stream 1 had been restricted or stopped several times by Russia since the Ukraine war began; Nord Stream 2 was not yet operational.

From October 14, Ukrainian citizen Serhii K. is facing trial before a court in the northern German city of Hamburg. He was arrested in Italy in August 2025 on a European arrest warrant and later extradited to Germany. This week he must answer for the attacks before the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court. He is accused of being an accomplice to a war crime by attacking civil energy infrastructure, disruption of public services, causing an explosion and destroying structures.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly said that Ukraine was not involved in the 2022 attack on the Nord Stream underwater gas pipelines.

"Ukraine has never officially taken part in any operation related to the blowing up of Nord Stream," Zelenskyy told reporters again in August in response to a question about the ongoing investigation.

The fact that the accused is Ukrainian is especially politically sensitive. Germany continues to support the country after it was attacked by Russia: militarily, financially, with humanitarian aid and by taking in about 1.3 million refugees.

Critics of Germany's support for Ukraine, especially the right-wing extremist Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the left-wing populist Alliance for Social Justice and Economic Reason (BSW) want to improve relations with Moscow, resume energy deliveries from Russia – including via a repaired Nord Stream pipeline — and stop supporting Ukraine. Some of them have practically delivered their verdict on Serhii K., although the trial has not yet begun, and assume that Ukraine's political or military leadership was behind the attack on the pipeline.

Sahra Wagenknecht, former leader of the BSW, told news agency Reuters in 2025 following Serhii K.'s arrest: "It is totally absurd that Germany spends many billions on aid for Ukraine but never demands an explanation from [President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy. Questions should also be raised about possible compensation."

Alice Weidel, co-leader of the AfD, has shared similar sentiments. In early 2026, she asserted that the German government must seek financial repayment from Ukraine. If the AfD came into power, she would demand Kyiv compensate Germany for blowing up the pipeline and pay for its repair. According to her, a country that does such things is "no friend of Germany." She has, however, failed to provide proof that Ukraine was behind the attack.

In an interview with public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk in 2023, German naval commander Göran Swistek pointed out that, given the technical, financial, and organizational effort involved, “there is likely a state-run structure behind it.” In his opinion, a group of amateurs could not have carried out the act.

However, he considered it unlikely that this state could be Ukraine, since Ukraine, after all, would not want to jeopardize German support. At the time, Swistek thought a false lead pointing to Russia was possible.

The German-Russian Nord Stream project had many opponents from the beginning, including Poland, the US, the Baltic countries and — especially since Russia's full-scale invasion — Ukraine. That is why investigators always ask: Who benefits from the explosion?

Henning Hoff from the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) thinks it is important to shed light on the background context.

"By halting supplies or using the threat to do so as leverage, Russia exerted immense pressure on Germany at the time, and gas markets went haywire," he told DW. "The explosion thwarted Russian attempts to extort Germany, prices for natural gas sank. I think one could say: The explosion was in German interests."

But what will happen if the Ukrainian Serhii K. is found guilty and a connection to the military or political leadership of Ukraine is proven? Could the German government still continue its current course regarding Ukraine?

The German government faces a dilemma: On one side, judicial independence must be preserved and consequences for the sabotaging German infrastructure must be pursued. On the other side, the German government wants to prevent Russia from instrumentalizing the case. However, pressure on Germany would increase enormously, also from within the country.

Roderich Kiesewetter, a lawmaker with the ruling center-right Christian Democrats (CDU), said there is no reason to deviate from the current course of support, even in the case of involvement by Kyiv: "Irrespective of the outcome, no consequences at all are appropriate, because our support for Ukraine is carried out in the interest of our own national security and stems from a sense of responsibility for a free Europe."

The debate around support for Ukraine is escalating in Germany, regardless of the court process. Public backing for Ukraine is decreasing, especially for deliveries of weapons.

The AfD gained significant support in three state parliament elections held in eastern Germany during September. The party could potentially supply the state premier in Saxony-Anhalt. The AfD has also led nationwide polls for months, far ahead of the conservative CDU of Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

In addition, the AfD and BSW have drawn a connection between planned government spending cuts on social services and aid to Ukraine.

Wagenknecht told a campaign event before the state parliament elections that the federal government was "Sinking billions upon billions into the black hole of Ukraine, while in Germany, in our schools, the children are no longer properly learning reading, writing and arithmetic." Tino Chrupalla, co-leader of the AfD, raised the question of whether citizens were prepared to spend so much money on a non-EU and non-NATO country.

Given very expensive energy costs, it is not only the AfD and BSW who suggest repairing Nord Stream and receiving new deliveries of gas from Russia. Some CDU politicians favor this too, such as Saxony state premier Michael Kretschmer. He views a repaired gas pipeline as a possible bargaining chip for talks with Russia. Kretschmer's position, however, contradicts the federal CDU party line and European Union sanctions policies.

His party colleague Kiesewetter considers it dangerous: "Russia has always used energy as an instrument of geo-economic extortion. It would be extremely dumb if we were to again learn nothing from history and cling to a special path with Russia. That would fuel mistrust among our partners in Europe. I can only advise everyone, including people from the CDU, to keep their distance from such calls, because they are against German interests."

Hoff from the DGAP also rejected positions like Kretschmer's. "That is an illusion. There is no returning to the time before Russia's war. The supposedly cheap Russian gas, which has cost Germany dearly, will never flow again, if only because Putin has no interest in it doing so. It serves only as an instrument of propaganda for polarizing German politics and weakening support for Ukraine."

In any case, the outcome of the trial in Hamburg will undoubtedly influence the public debate about further support for Ukraine.