Ukraine dismisses involvement in Nord Stream pipeline attacks
Reuters reports that Mykhailo Podolyak, advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, denied on Thursday reports of Ukraine's involvement in the attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines.
"Such an act can only be carried out with extensive technical and financial resources ... and who possessed all this at the time of the bombing? Only Russia," Podolyak stated to Reuters.
The advisor to the Ukrainian president also emphasised that Kyiv had nothing to do with these explosions. He added that Ukraine did not gain any strategic or tactical advantage from the attacks on the Russian pipeline.
On Wednesday, German media, including Die Zeit, ARD, and Sueddeutsche Zeitung, reported that the German Federal Prosecutor's Office had issued its first arrest warrant in connection with the attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines.
That same day, Polish prosecutors announced that Poland had received a European arrest warrant issued by Berlin in connection with the attack. Still, the suspect, Ukrainian Volodymyr Z., had already left Poland. His current whereabouts are unknown.
On Thursday, the "Wall Street Journal" reported that top Ukrainian officials were involved in the attack on Nord Stream.
On 26 September 2022, three out of four strands of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines were destroyed at a depth of about 80 metres on the floor of the Baltic Sea. For years, a large portion of Russian natural gas for Germany was delivered directly through Nord Stream 1. Many Eastern and Western European countries repeatedly and strongly criticised the project and warned against the geopolitical consequences of bypassing Eastern Europe in the transit of raw materials.
During the Russian aggression against Ukraine, gas supplies through Nord Stream 1 were suspended by Moscow even before the pipeline was destroyed. Meanwhile, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was ultimately not launched due to the Russian invasion and resulting political disputes.
Russia blamed the USA, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine for the explosions, which essentially cut off Russian gas from the lucrative European market. These countries denied their involvement.
Germany, Denmark, and Sweden initiated investigations into the incident. During the investigation, the Swedes found traces of explosives on several items collected from the explosion site, confirming that the explosions were deliberate actions.
