The sketchy story about who and why Nord Stream was blown up is unraveling, and the truth is beginning to leak out. As you know, four years ago, explosions ripped through the Nord Stream pipelines beneath the Baltic Sea. Now, there is new information as another Ukrainian suspect, Volodymyr Zhuravlev, has been arrested in connection with the sabotage. The first suspect was arrested in Italy last year. The new information also suggests that one or two foreign states, possibly a NATO state, were involved or knew in advance. That would make the explosion an act of war.
According to the Guardian, German federal prosecutors said local police forces detained Zhuravlev on a European arrest warrant. They described Zhuravlev as a professional and experienced scuba diver and said he was part of a group led by another Ukrainian, Serhii K, who was extradited from Italy to Germany in 2025. Both had links to Ukrainian state entities, the prosecutors suggested, and had planted explosives on behalf of their shadowy intelligence bosses.
“HIGHLY PROBABLE” THEY WERE ACTING ON BEHALF OF A FOREIGN STATE.
“And what German investigators are now alleging deserves serious attention. The man arrested in Croatia is alleged to have been one of the trained divers who planted explosives on the pipelines near Bornholm. He is not the only suspect. Another Ukrainian, Serhii K., is already in German proceedings, accused of helping coordinate the operation. But here’s where this becomes much bigger than a group of rogue divers. German judicial material states that Serhii K. was an officer in a special unit of the Ukrainian armed forces and that it is “highly probable” that the alleged sabotage team was acting on behalf of a foreign state,” reports journalist Jim Ferguson.
While it does not establish that President Zelenskyy ordered the attack, or establish the precise chain of command, the probability of government involvement has greatly increased.
“And Ukraine has denied state responsibility. But compare where the investigation stands today with what Europeans knew publicly in September 2022. Nord Stream — critical European energy infrastructure — was blown apart. NATO confirmed it was deliberate sabotage, but said attribution remained unresolved. The EU condemned the deliberate destruction of European energy infrastructure without identifying the perpetrator.”
German investigators are now pursuing alleged Ukrainian participants, and German judicial findings have raised the possibility of state involvement.
German investigators believe the group used a rented yacht called Andromeda to reach the pipeline area. According to the investigation, the vessel was used to transport the suspects and equipment before trained divers allegedly went underwater to plant explosives on the pipelines. Investigators believe the group later left the area, while the explosives detonated on Sept. 26, 2022, damaging three of the four Nord Stream pipeline lines, reports the Kyiv Post.
Vladimir Zelenskyy is now accused of being another member of that group. However, the allegations have not been established in court, and the suspects are presumed innocent unless proven guilty, reports the Kyiv Post.
There is another extraordinary part of this story.
Poland held long-standing opposition to the pipeline. The Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, has publicly said that “the problem with Nord Stream 2 is not that it was blown up. The problem is that it was built.”
“When Poland previously arrested the Ukrainian diver now detained in Croatia, a Polish court refused to extradite him to Germany. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk subsequently made his own position unmistakably clear: ‘The problem with Nord Stream 2 is not that it was blown up. The problem is that it was built’,” Ferguson said.
“So perhaps the biggest question is no longer simply: WHO BLEW UP NORD STREAM? It is: WHAT DID WESTERN GOVERNMENTS KNOW — AND WHEN DID THEY KNOW IT? Were Western intelligence agencies aware of plans to attack the pipelines before the explosions? When did Germany first receive information pointing towards Ukrainian actors? What did Washington know? What did Poland know?
“And if investigators ultimately establish that people acting on behalf of a NATO-backed state destroyed critical European energy infrastructure, what are the political consequences?
The picture looks very different from four years ago.