Ukrainian National Charged in Nord Stream Pipeline Blasts

German federal prosecutors have filed charges against a Ukrainian national over a series of Nord Stream pipeline blasts in September 2022, German media reported on Wednesday.

Public broadcaster ARD and newspapers Süddeutsche Zeitung and Zeit named the accused as Serhii K. , who was detained in Italy on a German arrest warrant in August 2025 and extradited to Germany.

The 50-year-old Ukrainian soldier from Kyiv is accused of leading a team of seven accomplices in the operation which destroyed three of four key Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea.

The pipelines transported Russian gas to Europe, but were not in use at the time.

K. is also accused of attacking civil energy infrastructure, considered a war crime under international law, as well as causing an explosion and destroying infrastructure, German media reported.

He has denied involvement and his lawyer told the Reuters news agency that he was confident his client would be acquitted.

What do we know about the evidence against the defendant?

According to reports, investigators discovered that K. led the sabotage team and was in command of the sailing yacht Andromeda, from which the attack was allegedly carried out.

Investigators reportedly discovered traces of the military explosives HMX and RDX on the Andromeda.

Of K.'s seven alleged accomplices, one has reportedly since been killed during Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine.

K. was arrested on August 21, 2025, in the Italian province of Rimini. Following his transfer to Germany on November 27, 2025, a German judge executed the arrest warrant the next day and he has been in pre-trial detention in the northern city of Hamburg since.

The evidence against the defendant is reportedly considered to be overwhelming. For instance, K. is alleged to have incriminated himself in intercepted phone calls made while in custody in Italy pending extradition.

He fought for months against his extradition to Germany and at one point went on hunger strike, claiming mistreatment.

How is the operation alleged to have worked?

Following the extradition, a ruling issued by Germany's highest criminal court described how investigators believe the operation in the Baltic Sea unfolded.

According to the findings, K. and his accomplices – a skipper, an explosives expert, and four deep-sea divers – boarded the Andromeda in the port of Wiek on the German island of Rügen no later than September 8, 2022.

The vessel had been chartered for several weeks by an intermediary.

The team reportedly attached four explosive devices equipped with time-delay fuses to the gas pipelines on the seabed near the Danish island of Bornholm, at depths of up to 80 meters.

According to the details provided, the devices consisted of high-performance military-grade explosives capable of massive destruction and designed to detonate even at great depths, which they did on September 26, 2022.