Nord Stream Sabotage Trial to Begin in Hamburg on Oct. 14

Four years after explosions damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines, Germany’s first trial against a suspect in the sabotage case is set to begin in Hamburg.

The city’s Higher Regional Court admitted the federal prosecutor’s indictment against Serhii K., a former Ukrainian officer. Proceedings are scheduled to start on Oct. 14, and the court has set 16 hearing dates through Dec. 17.

Explosives detonated on the Baltic Sea pipelines in September 2022, causing severe damage to the two lines built to carry Russian gas to Germany. The pipelines were not operating at the time. Russia had stopped deliveries through Nord Stream 1 shortly beforehand, while Nord Stream 2 never entered service.

German investigators suspect a Ukrainian plan behind the blasts, but Ukraine denies involvement. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said recently that Kyiv had “never officially taken part in any operation connected with the blowing up of Nord Stream.”

Federal prosecutors allege that the sabotage aimed to permanently stop gas deliveries so Russia could not use the revenue to finance its war in Ukraine. They say K. helped develop the plan with other military personnel and led a group that included professional divers, a skipper and an explosives expert.

Italian authorities arrested K. while he was on holiday in August 2025. Germany later took custody of him, and he was placed in pretrial detention. Prosecutors accuse him of joint participation in several offenses, including the war crime of attacking civilian objects. The court said a preliminary review found sufficient suspicion to open the main proceedings. Another suspected participant was arrested in Croatia in mid-August.

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Kyiv has never officially taken part in any operation connected with the blowing up of Nord Stream.