Ukrainian suspected of Nord Stream bombing arrested in Italy
21 August 2025 20:55
Italian police have detained Ukrainian citizen Serhiy K., whom German prosecutors suspect of involvement in the explosions at the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines. The arrest was reported by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office of Germany, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
The detention took place in the province of Rimini. According to the investigation, the Ukrainian coordinated an operation to blow up pipelines near the island of Bornholm in September 2022. German prosecutors allege that the suspect and his accomplices rented a sailing yacht in Rostock, Germany, using forged documents. It was from this vessel that the sabotage was allegedly carried out.
Sergiy K.’s extradition to Germany has already been agreed upon, and he is to be handed over to a German court in the near future.
What happened to Nord Stream?
on September 27, 2022, the seismological services of Denmark and Sweden recorded powerful underwater explosions in the area of the Nord Stream pipeline. As a result of the sabotage, three of the four lines of the pipeline were damaged. The operator, Nord Stream AG, called the damage “unprecedented” and said that it was impossible to estimate the timeframe for restoration.
The European Union and NATO qualified the explosions as a deliberate act of sabotage. Poland and Ukraine directly pointed to Russia as the culprit. At the same time, the Western press published materials suggesting the involvement of a “pro-Ukrainian group.”
For example, The Washington Post wrote about the possible involvement of Ukrainian ex-intelligence officer Roman Chervinsky, who denied any involvement. Investigative journalist Khristo Grozev said in a commentary to Suspilne that he had no evidence of Chervinsky’s involvement, but emphasized that Ukraine could have had a motive for the bombing.
In March 2023, the New York Times published US intelligence reports that a “pro-Ukrainian group” could have carried out the sabotage. Then-Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov called the reports an attempt to discredit Ukraine, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly stated that Kyiv had nothing to do with the bombings.
The investigation into the Nord Stream explosions is ongoing in several countries simultaneously, and the case remains one of the most controversial in European security policy in recent years.
