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🇮🇩 Indonesia /Energy & Infrastructure

Germany Charges Ukrainian National Over Nord Stream Pipeline Blasts

From Tempo · () Indonesian

Translated from Indonesian, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources In the courts
  • German prosecutors have charged a Ukrainian national, identified as Serhii K., in connection with the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline explosions.
  • The 50-year-old soldier is accused of leading a team of seven accomplices in the sabotage operation that damaged three of the four pipelines.
  • Serhii K. denies the charges, and his lawyer is confident of an acquittal, while investigators cite intercepted calls and evidence from the yacht Andromeda as key.
  • The operation allegedly involved attaching explosive devices to the pipelines on the seabed near the Danish island of Bornholm.

German federal prosecutors have formally charged a Ukrainian national in connection with the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September 2022. The accused, identified as Serhii K., a 50-year-old soldier from Kyiv, was arrested in Italy on a German warrant in August 2025 and subsequently extradited to Germany.

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

— German mediaReporting on the defendant's plea and his lawyer's statement.

Prosecutors allege that Serhii K. led a team of seven accomplices in the operation that destroyed three of the four pipelines, which transported Russian gas to Europe. He faces charges including attacking civil energy infrastructure, considered a war crime, causing an explosion, and destroying property. The pipelines were not in use at the time of the blasts.

Despite the charges, Serhii K. denies any involvement. His lawyer expressed confidence in his client's acquittal. German media reports indicate that investigators believe evidence, including traces of explosives found on the chartered yacht Andromeda and intercepted phone calls made by K. while in custody in Italy, incriminates the defendant. One of his alleged accomplices has reportedly been killed in the ongoing war in Ukraine.

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.

— German mediaDetailing the specific charges filed against the Ukrainian national.

The indictment details a complex operation allegedly carried out by K. and his team, which included a skipper, an explosives expert, and divers. They are believed to have boarded the Andromeda in the German port of Wiek and attached high-performance military-grade explosive devices to the gas pipelines on the seabed near the Danish island of Bornholm. The devices detonated on September 26, 2022.

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.

— German court rulingDescribing the alleged initial steps of the sabotage operation.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Tempo in Indonesian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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