Zelensky's initial nod to Nord Stream II sabotage raises questions

"The Wall Street Journal" reports sensational details about the destruction of Nord Stream II. Americans claim that Volodymyr Zelensky initially signed the decision to destroy the pipeline, only to attempt later to annul it.

The American newspaper cited four senior Ukrainian officials who requested anonymity.

According to the "WSJ", in May 2022, a handful of high-ranking Ukrainian army officers and businessmen gathered to celebrate their country's success in halting the Russian invasion. Under the influence of alcohol, in patriotic fervour, someone suggested the next radical step: destroying the Nord Stream pipelines.

A little over four months later, on the morning of September 26, Scandinavian seismologists received signals indicative of an underwater earthquake or volcanic eruption hundreds of kilometres away, near the Danish island of Bornholm. Three powerful explosions caused the largest release of natural gas in history, equivalent to Denmark's annual CO2 emissions.

According to the "WSJ," the Ukrainian operation cost about £240,000. It involved a small rented yacht with a six-person crew, including trained civilian divers. One of them was a woman whose presence helped create the illusion that they were friends on a pleasant cruise.

According to one of the officers involved and three individuals familiar with it, President Zelensky initially approved the plan. Later, however, when the CIA learned about it and asked the Ukrainian president to halt the operation, he ordered a stop to the activities.

Zelensky's commander, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, who led the operation, continued the efforts despite this. The newspaper spoke with four senior Ukrainian defence and security officials who either participated in the plan's execution or had direct knowledge of it. They all stated that the pipelines were a legitimate target in Ukraine's defensive war against Russia.

The "WSJ" notes that parts of their accounts were confirmed by nearly two years of German police investigation into the attack, during which evidence was obtained, including emails, mobile phone and satellite data, as well as fingerprints and DNA samples from the alleged sabotage team members. The German investigation did not directly link President Zelensky to the covert operation.

Zaluzhnyi, currently the Ukrainian ambassador to the United Kingdom, told the newspaper that he knows nothing about any such operation and any suggestions otherwise are "mere provocation." He added that the Ukrainian armed forces were not authorised to conduct foreign missions and could not have been involved.

In September 2022, the perpetrators rented a 50-metre recreational yacht named Andromeda in the German Baltic port of Rostock. According to Ukrainian officers and individuals familiar with the German investigation, the boat was rented with the help of a Polish travel agency, which had been established almost 10 years earlier by Ukrainian intelligence as a cover for financial transactions.

The crew, armed only with diving equipment, satellite navigation, a portable sonar, and open sea floor maps marking the pipeline's location, set off. Four divers worked in pairs, according to those familiar with the German investigation. Operating in pitch-black, icy waters, they used octogen, a powerful explosive also known as HMX, connected to time-controlled detonators. A small amount of the lightweight explosive was sufficient to burst the high-pressure pipes.

Wanting to leave Germany quickly, the sabotage group neglected to clean the Andromeda, which allowed German detectives to find traces of explosives, fingerprints, and DNA samples from the crew.

At one point, they failed to establish cooperation with Polish authorities; however, the saboteurs partially used Poland as a logistical base and stopped in the Polish port of Kołobrzeg.

A port official found the yacht's crew suspicious and alerted the police. The Polish border guard checked the crew members' identities who presented European Union passports. Individuals familiar with the investigation claim they were allowed to continue sailing north, where they set up the rest of the mines.

The entire port was under extensive video surveillance. However, despite a history of close cooperation between Warsaw and Berlin on police matters, Polish officials refused to hand over the port's surveillance recordings. They told their German counterparts at the time that the recordings were routinely destroyed shortly after Andromeda's departure.