Italian police have arrested a Ukrainian man suspected of coordinating the attacks on the Nord Stream gas pipelines, Germany's prosecutor general said on Thursday, adding that he would be brought before a German judge.
The suspect, identified only as Serhii K. under German privacy laws, was part of a group of saboteurs who planted devices on the undersea pipelines near the German island of Bornholm, a statement from the prosecutor's office said.
He is believed to be one of the coordinators of the clandestine attack, the statement said.
The multi-billion-dollar Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines transporting gas under the Baltic Sea were ruptured by a series of blasts in September 2022, seven months after Russia launched a full-scale offensive on Ukraine.
Before the war’s start, Europe had depended on Russian piped gas to meet most of its demand. The sabotage had raised worries about an energy crisis in Europe.
Serhii K. and his accomplices had set off from Rostock on Germany's north-eastern coast in a sailing yacht to carry out the attack, the German prosecutor’s office said.
The vessel had been rented from a German company with the help of forged identity documents via middlemen, it added in the statement.
German media have reported that the investigation pointed to a Ukrainian cell of five men and one woman who had chartered the yacht "Andromeda" from the port of Rostock and carried out the attack.
The Ukrainian connection
Suspicions of Ukrainian involvement first surfaced publicly in March 2023, when The New York Times reported that US intelligence had reviewed evidence suggesting a pro-Ukrainian group was behind the blasts.
At the time, Kiev was urging its Western allies to ramp up supplies of high-end weapons to drive back Russian forces as the war entered its second year.
How did Ukraine’s allies respond at the time?
When The New York Times report came out, Ukraine’s Western allies were reluctant to draw premature conclusions.
"There are ongoing national investigations and I think it's right to wait until those are finalised before we say anything more about who was behind it," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said at the time.
The incident sparked a flurry of accusations, with some Western officials suggesting Moscow blew up its own pipelines, while Russia blamed the United States, Britain and Ukraine.
Why does the timing of the arrest matter?
The arrest of Ukrainian suspect Serhii K. comes at a time of renewed diplomatic efforts around Ukraine’s security.
Kiev is pushing for stronger guarantees from its Western allies, while Russia continues to resist direct negotiations.
This week, high-stakes talks in Washington brought together Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, former US President Donald Trump, and European leaders, with discussions focused on aid and long-term security guarantees for Ukraine.
Russia has accused Ukraine of being “not interested” in a long-term peace deal, claiming Kiev’s demands for security guarantees were incompatible with Moscow’s terms.
The Kremlin has ruled out any imminent summit between Putin and Zelenskiy and insists it must be included in future discussions about Ukraine’s security.
Will this change anything?
Whether the arrest — or down the line, a potential revelation that Ukrainians were proven to be responsible — actually changes anything is anyone’s guess.
When The New York Times first reported in 2023 that a pro-Ukrainian group may have been behind the blasts, the paper noted there was no evidence linking President Volodymyr Zelenskyy or other Ukrainian officials to the attack.
Back then, Ukrainian former defence minister Oleksii Reznikov said the media reports were a "little bit strange" and had "nothing to do" with the Ukrainian government.
"It's like a compliment for our special forces," he joked at the time. "But this is not our activity."
Reznikov had said he was not worried about the prospect of the media reports weakening support for Ukraine.
