Italian police have detained a Ukrainian national suspected of taking part in the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines. The arrest took place in the Rimini area on Wednesday evening, carried out under a European arrest warrant issued by German authorities. The man, identified as Serhii K., is believed to have had a role in coordinating the attack, according to reporting by Spiegel.

Investigators in Germany allege that the Nord Stream explosions in September 2022 were carried out by a unit of Ukrainian special forces. The group is said to have chartered a sailing yacht to bring divers to the site of the pipeline, where explosives were placed on the seabed. According to prosecutors, Serhii K. was present on the yacht Andromeda but did not dive himself; instead, he allegedly oversaw elements of the operation.

Sources familiar with the case told Spiegel in 2024 that the Ukrainian servicemen involved did not see their actions as criminal. Within their ranks, the strike against the pipeline was regarded as a blow against a legitimate target in the conflict with Russia. Profits from Russian gas sales to Germany, they argued, had been feeding the Kremlin’s war effort, making the pipeline a symbol of Moscow’s ability to finance its aggression.

German investigators have also reportedly uncovered evidence suggesting that the attack was not a rogue act but had been authorised by the Ukrainian armed forces. This finding contradicts earlier assumptions in Western politics and media that Russia itself was behind the explosions. Over time, German federal police and prosecutors pieced together a trail leading to the yacht and its suspected Ukrainian links.

The investigation gained momentum last year when Federal Prosecutor Jens Rommel secured the first arrest warrant for one of the divers allegedly involved. That suspect, however, managed to evade capture after leaving his residence in Poland. Reports indicated that Polish authorities had tipped off their Ukrainian counterparts, and the man was able to cross into Ukraine using a vehicle with diplomatic registration plates.

As for Serhii K., it remains unclear when or whether he will be extradited to Germany from Italy. Law enforcement sources told Spiegel that no decision has yet been made. Meanwhile, the German investigation continues. Rommel previously noted that progress had been achieved, including the identification of two suspects linked to the sabotage.

The political dimension remains sensitive. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly denied any Ukrainian involvement, insisting that Kyiv had nothing to do with the explosions. He has suggested that attention should instead focus on who benefits from spreading allegations of Ukrainian responsibility.

The blasts, which occurred near Denmark’s Bornholm island in late September 2022, caused four separate ruptures on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines. The damage immediately fueled international debate, with the question of accountability still reverberating more than two years later.

Germany’s Federal Prosecutor issued an arrest warrant for the suspect on Monday, 18 August, and late on the night of 20–21 August Italian carabinieri carried out the operation in the town of Misano Adriatico, in the Rimini province.

According to Der Spiegel, Serhiy K., arrested by the Italian authorities, was one of the coordinators of the Baltic Sea operation, but he did not actually dive in September 2022. The diving was carried out by Volodymyr Z., who has had an arrest warrant issued in Germany for a year.

Volodymyr Z. was in Poland, where he was supposed to be apprehended, but he likely received advance warning of the operation and disappeared.

Prosecutors accuse Serhiy K. of involvement in the explosions, sabotage, and destruction of property. Investigators say he and accomplices rented a yacht from a German company in Rostock, in northern Germany, using false identity documents, sailed into the Baltic Sea, and planted explosives on sections of the pipeline running from Russia to Germany. The blasts on 26 September 2022 rendered Nord Stream inoperable.

Following his extradition from Italy to Germany, Serhiy K. will face trial before the Federal Court of Justice, Polish Radio’s IAR news agency has reported.

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Source: IAR

Serhii K was part of a group that planted devices on the pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm, the German prosecutor’s office said.

Italian police have arrested a Ukrainian man suspected of coordinating the attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines, Germany’s prosecutor general said.

The suspect, identified only as Serhii K under German privacy laws, will be brought before a German judge after being extradited, the prosecutor general said on Thursday.

Viewed by both Russia and the West as an act of sabotage, no one has claimed responsibility for explosions that severely damaged pipelines carrying gas from Russia to Europe in September 2022, marking a major escalation in the Ukraine conflict and ramping up an energy supply crisis on the continent.

Serhii K was part of a group of people who planted devices on the pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm, a statement from the prosecutor’s office said.

He and his accomplices had set off from Rostock on Germany’s northeastern coast in a sailing yacht to carry out the attack, it said, adding that the vessel had been rented from a German company with the help of forged identity documents via middlemen.

Authorities acted on a European arrest warrant for the suspect, who faces charges of collusion to cause an explosion, anti-constitutional sabotage and destruction of buildings.

According to German investigators, the Ukrainian suspect played a coordinating role in the operation rather than being one of the divers who placed explosives on the pipelines.

Officers arrested him overnight in the province of Rimini on Italy’s Adriatic coast, the German prosecutor’s statement said.

A German investigation concluded in 2023 that a pro-Ukrainian group was behind the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage. The team that carried out the attack reportedly consisted of two divers, two assistants, a captain, and a medic.

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Investigators have been largely tight-lipped, but said two years ago they found traces of undersea explosives in samples taken from a yacht that was searched as part of the probe.

Germany’s Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig said the arrest was an “impressive success” for Germany’s state prosecutors.

Hubig also called in a statement for the case to be fully resolved, including under criminal law.

Sweden and Denmark had also conducted probes into the explosions.

The explosions in 2022 ruptured the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which was Russia’s main natural gas supply route to Germany until Moscow cut off supplies at the end of August 2022. They also damaged the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which never entered service because Germany suspended its certification process shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine in February of that year.

Russia has accused the United States of staging the explosions, a charge Washington denies. The pipelines were long a target of criticism by the US and some of its allies, who warned that they posed a risk to Europe’s energy security by increasing dependence on Russian gas.

Beyond their geopolitical effect, the Nord Stream pipeline leaks were a huge environmental disaster, with local wildlife affected and huge volumes of methane discharged into the Baltic Sea, in what observers believe could be the single largest release of methane due to human activity.

A Ukrainian national has been arrested in Italy in connection with explosions, carried out in 2022, that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines.

The suspect, whose arrest was confirmed by Italian police, was identified by German prosecutors only as Serhii K, in accordance with German privacy laws.

German federal prosecutors said he is accused of belonging to a group that allegedly planted explosive devices on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines on the Baltic seabed near the Danish island of Bornholm on September 26, 2022.

Serhii K and his accomplices transported the explosives on a sailing yacht that departed from the German port of Rostock, according to German prosecutors. The vessel had been rented from a local company through intermediaries using falsified identity documents.

Nord Stream, majority-owned by Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom and co-financed by major European energy companies, was constructed to deliver Russian gas directly to Germany, bypassing transit states such as Ukraine and Poland, which have had strained relations with Moscow.

The suspected sabotage and subsequent gas leaks caused the pipelines to become inoperable and came seven months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Western governments originally accused Russia of carrying out the blasts, while Moscow rejected the allegations and instead blamed the United States, Britain, and Ukraine.

Germany has investigated the incident as its companies were part of the consortium that owned the Nord Stream project. In August 2024, German investigators wrapped up their initial probe and formally issued an arrest warrant for Volodymyr Z, a Ukrainian citizen investigators believed was the mastermind behind the plot.

Various news reports since the attacks have pointed the finger of blame at Ukrainian operatives, possibly acting independently of the Ukrainian state.

Germany’s former intelligence chief, August Hanning, told Die Welt in August 2024 that he believed there were agreements between the presidents of Poland and Ukraine to carry out the attack — an accusation that was denied by the office of the Polish president. The Ukrainian government has also repeatedly denied responsibility for the attack.

Both Denmark and Sweden, in whose waters the explosions took place, ended their investigations into the incident in 2024. While the Danish police said the explosions were due to “deliberate sabotage of the gas lines,” they did not identify any suspects and said there was “no necessary basis to further pursue a criminal case.”

A new report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies has found that Russia has dramatically increased sabotage operations throughout Europe, with the number of attacks targeting critical infrastructure nearly quadrupling since 2023.

A Ukrainian citizen suspected to be one of the co-ordinators of the undersea explosions in 2022 that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Germany has been arrested, German prosecutors said Thursday.

The suspect — identified only as Serhii K., in line with German privacy rules — was arrested overnight by police officers in Misano Adriatico, near the Italian city of Rimini, federal prosecutors said.

Explosions on Sept. 26, 2022, damaged the pipelines, which were built to carry Russian natural gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea. The damage added to tensions over the war in Ukraine, as European countries moved to wean themselves off Russian energy sources following the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Investigators have been largely tightlipped on their investigation, but said two years ago they found traces of undersea explosives in samples taken from a yacht that was searched as part of the probe.

In a statement Thursday, prosecutors said Serhii K. was one of a group of people who placed explosives on the pipelines and is believed to have been one of the co-ordinators. He is suspected of causing explosions, anti-constitutional sabotage and the destruction of structures, they said.

He was arrested on a European arrest warrant issued on Monday.

The suspect and others used a yacht that set off from the German port of Rostock, which had been hired from a German company using forged IDs and with the help of intermediaries, prosecutors said.

A charter yacht, which German prosecutors had searched due to a belief that it was used for the attacks on Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, is seen in a dry dock in Dranske, Germany, on March 14, 2023. (Oliver Denzer/Reuters)

They didn’t give any information on the other people aboard the yacht or say anything about who else might have been involved in co-ordinating the suspected sabotage, or about a possible motive.

German Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig praised what she called “a very impressive investigative success.” She said in a statement that the explosions must be cleared up, “so it is good that we are making progress.”

The explosions ruptured the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which was Russia’s main natural gas supply route to Germany until Moscow cut off supplies at the end of August 2022.

They also damaged the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which never entered service because Germany suspended its certification process shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine in February of that year.

Unused pipes for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline are seen in the harbour of Mukran, Germany, on Sept. 30, 2022. (Fabian Bimmer/Reuters)

Russia has accused the U.S. of staging the explosions, a charge Washington has denied. The pipelines were long a target of criticism by the U.S. and some of its allies, who warned that they posed a risk to Europe’s energy security by increasing dependence on Russian gas.

In 2023, German media reported that a pro-Ukraine group was involved in the sabotage. Ukraine rejected suggestions it might have ordered the attack and German officials voiced caution over the accusation.

German prosecutors didn’t say when they expect Serhii K. to be handed over to German authorities.

Swedish and Danish authorities closed their investigations in February 2024, leaving the German prosecutors’ case as the sole probe.