The proceedings against Serhii K., a 50-year-old former Ukrainian military officer who denies involvement, are expected to continue into February. He was arrested in Italy in August 2025 and extradited to Germany in November 2025
TBS Report
14 October, 2026, 11:30 am
Last modified: 14 October, 2026, 11:34 am
A trial has opened at the Hamburg Higher Regional Court over the September 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, marking the first public hearing of evidence in a years-long investigation into the explosions.
The proceedings against Serhii K., a 50-year-old former Ukrainian military officer who denies involvement, are expected to continue into February. He was arrested in Italy in August 2025 and extradited to Germany in November 2025, says Al Jazeera.
German prosecutors accuse Serhii K. of coordinating a team of Ukrainian agents, including divers and an explosives expert, who allegedly acted on behalf of unidentified Ukrainian state entities.
According to the prosecution, Serhii K. entered Germany from Poland using a forged Ukrainian passport about three weeks before the attack. The group allegedly chartered a sailboat from the northern German city of Rostock to reach waters near the Danish island of Bornholm.
Prosecutors allege that the team attached military-grade explosives fitted with timers directly to the pipelines on the seabed. They contend that the attack on civilian infrastructure constitutes a war crime.
The explosions took place on September 26, 2022, when Swedish seismologists registered multiple undersea blasts roughly 17 hours apart. Three of the four concrete-coated steel pipelines were ruptured, releasing large quantities of methane into the atmosphere.
Nord Stream 1 had previously supplied about half of Germany's natural gas imports. Nord Stream 2 was completed but never entered service after Germany suspended its approval shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia had already halted gas deliveries following European sanctions and denied responsibility for destroying its own infrastructure.
Authorities have identified another suspect, Vladimir Z., a trained scuba diver alleged to have been part of the diving team. He was arrested in Croatia in August, and a Croatian court approved his extradition to Germany.
The Ukrainian government has denied involvement in the explosions. Russian officials have said they expect a verdict identifying both those who carried out the operation and those who ordered it.
The investigation has added political strain to relations between Berlin and Kyiv, despite Germany remaining one of Ukraine's strongest supporters.