German federal prosecutors have filed charges against a Ukrainian citizen over a series of Nord Stream pipeline explosions in September 2022, German media reported on Wednesday.
Public broadcaster ARD and newspapers south german newspaper And Time The name of the accused is Serhi K. It was reported that in August 2025, he was detained in Italy on a German arrest warrant and extradited to Germany.
The 50-year-old Ukrainian soldier from Kiev is accused of leading a team of seven comrades in the operation that destroyed three of the four major Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea.
Pipelines transported Russian gas to Europe, but were not in use at the time.
German media reported that K. It is also accused of attacking civilian energy infrastructure, considered a war crime under international law, as well as causing explosions and destroying infrastructure.
He has denied involvement and his lawyer told Reuters news agency that he was confident his client would be acquitted.
What do we know about the evidence against the defendant?
According to reports, investigators found that K. led the sabotage team and took command of the sailing boat AndromedaDue to which he was allegedly attacked.
Investigators reportedly found traces of military explosives HMX and RDX Andromeda.
One of seven alleged accomplices has reportedly been killed during Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.
was arrested in the Italian province of Rimini on August 21, 2025. Following his transfer to Germany on November 27, 2025, a German judge executed an arrest warrant the next day and he has since been in pre-trial detention in the northern city of Hamburg.
The evidence against the defendant is reportedly considered overwhelming. For example, K. But he is accused of incriminating himself over intercepted phone calls made while he was in custody in Italy pending extradition.
He fought for months against his extradition to Germany and at one point went on hunger strike, claiming ill-treatment.
How does this operation allegedly work?
Following the extradition, a ruling issued by Germany’s highest criminal court described how investigators believe the operation in the Baltic Sea unfolded.
According to the findings, K. and his companions – a captain, an explosives expert, and four deep-sea divers – boarded the ship. Andromeda At the port of Wieck on the German island of Rügen before September 8, 2022.
The ship was chartered for several weeks by an intermediary.
The team reportedly attached four explosive devices equipped with time-delay fuses to gas pipelines at a depth of 80 meters on the seabed near the Danish island of Bornholm.
According to the details provided, the devices consisted of high-performance military-grade explosives capable of causing large-scale destruction and were designed to detonate even at great depths, which they did on September 26, 2022.
Edited by: Rana Taha