German authorities have issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian national in connection with the explosion that destroyed the Nord Stream 2 pipeline two years ago, resurfacing questions about Ukraine’s involvement in the incident.
The suspect, identified by German media only as “Volodymyr Z.”, was living in Poland at the time but fled to Ukraine before authorities executed an arrest warrant in early July. He lived in Pruszkow, near Warsaw, Poland. According to the BBC.
Volodymyr Z. was allegedly part of an experienced Ukrainian six-person diving team that rented a German yacht in September 2022 to navigate the Nord Stream pipeline and plant explosives that damaged several pipelines.
The pipeline was condemned by Western countries as a national security threat: it allowed Russia to more easily sell gas to Europe despite sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine.
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The underwater explosion on the Nord Stream gas pipeline, built to transport Russian natural gas to Germany, occurred in international waters but within the economic zones of Sweden and Denmark, and Sweden has previously said a state actor was the most likely culprit.
The Wall Street Journal reported. The plan took four months to carry out and cost approximately $300,000, with the group bringing in female divers to pose as a group going on a sightseeing cruise.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (not pictured) in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 18, 2024. (Office of the President of Ukraine/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky initially supported the plan, but when the CIA learned of it and asked him to halt it, he tried to halt it, The WSJ reported, and Commander-in-Chief Valery Zarzhiny ignored the orders and went ahead with the plan.
Four senior Ukrainian defense and security officials told the media that the pipeline was considered a legitimate target for war. Foreign Minister Zaruzhnyy said he was unaware of the operation and denounced the claims as “pure provocation.”
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German intelligence officials expressed concern that, despite these reports, this amounted to a Russian “false flag” operation, a cover for Russia’s involvement in self-destructive acts to justify the continued invasion of Ukraine. According to Politico” he said, citing German publication Welt am Sonntag.
Politico reported that Polish security services supported this theory and sent a document naming Russian suspects to the German Federal Intelligence Service, but Germany remains convinced of Ukrainian responsibility.
A screenshot from the Danish Ministry of Defense shows bubbles on the surface of the water caused by a gas leak in Swedish sea on September 30, 2022. (Courtesy of Swedish Coast Guard/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
German media named two suspects as Svitlana and Yevhen Uspenska, a married couple who run a diving school in Ukraine. They have denied any involvement and say Svitlana Uspenska was in Kiev at the time of the attack.
Germany, Denmark and Sweden all launched investigations into the incident, but Sweden and Denmark closed their investigations earlier this year.
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Sweden found traces of explosives in some items recovered from the scene and confirmed that the incident was indeed an act of sabotage, but Sweden and Denmark determined that there were “sufficient grounds” to bring criminal charges.
Kenneth Ohlenschläger Bühl of the Royal Danish Defence College told The Associated Press that Denmark’s decision to close the investigation was expected.
President Vladimir Putin hosted a meeting with Russian government officials at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence on August 7, 2024. (Sergey Bobilyov/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
“The Swedish side said they had a pretty good idea who was behind it, but they had no jurisdiction over who they wanted to talk to,” Ohlenschläger Bühl said. The Danish side “said the same thing, just in slightly different words.”
US intelligence in 2023 suggested pro-Ukrainian groups were behind the attack, and then-National Security Council spokesman John Kirby acknowledged that the US believed it “was an act of sabotage” but stressed that the US was not involved.
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As of this writing, neither the U.S. State Department nor the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry had responded to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
