Ukraine has denied a report from The Wall Street Journal that it was involved in the 2022 explosion of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline transporting Russian gas to Europe. Germany has issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian suspect.
"Ukraine has nothing to do with the Nord Stream explosions," Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said in reaction to a report by The Wall Street Journal that claimed Ukraine's top military commander, Valery Zaluzhny, oversaw a plan to blow up the pipelines.
The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which ran from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea, started leaking in September 2022 – seven months after Russia invaded Ukraine.
They had already stopped delivering gas to Europe when investigators concluded that the leaks were caused by explosions set deliberately as sabotage.
"Such an act can only be carried out with extensive technical and financial resources... and who possessed all this at the time of the bombing? Only Russia," Zaluzhny said.
Blame game
Russia has blamed the blasts on Ukraine as well as the United States and Britain, which denied the accusation.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Ukraine had discussed blowing up the pipelines at a meeting of senior military officers and businessmen in May 2022, soon after Russia’s invasion.
The reporting, published Wednesday, said six people directly took part in the privately financed operation, which involved a rented yacht that sailed out to the pipelines carrying divers who lay down explosives.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who reportedly approved the operation at first, called it off when the CIA asked him to stop it, but Zaluzhny said it was already underway.
Germany seeks suspect
Shortly before The Wall Street Journal’s report was published, Poland said it had received a German arrest warrant for a Ukrainian man who investigators suspected helped plant explosive devices on the pipeline.
Polish prosecutors said the man, named as Volodymyr Z, had crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border in early July.
(with newswires)
