Nord Stream sabotage trial opens in Hamburg: ex-Ukrainian officer accused of blowing up Baltic gas pipelines

Key takeaways

• A former Ukrainian army officer goes on trial on Wednesday, 14 October 2026, at the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court in Hamburg, Germany, over the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline explosions.
• Under German privacy rules he is named in court only as Serhii K.; he was publicly named as Serhii Kuznietsov during extradition proceedings in Italy.
• Charges include causing an explosion, destroying structures, disrupting public services and being an accomplice to a war crime by attacking civilian infrastructure.
• German prosecutors say the plot was carried out on the orders of Ukrainian state agencies. President Zelensky has denied Ukraine had anything to do with it.
• He is the first suspect to face trial for the blasts, which hit three of the four Nord Stream lines in September 2022.

What happened in 2022

On 26 September 2022, explosions under the Baltic Sea near the Danish island of Bornholm ruptured three of the four lines of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines between Russia and Germany. Gas bubbled to the surface in huge quantities.

Russia had already cut gas flows through Nord Stream 1 weeks earlier, and Nord Stream 2 never entered service because Germany halted its approval shortly before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

What prosecutors allege

According to the charges, as reported by AP, BBC and DW:

German prosecutors have also said traces of underwater explosives were found in samples taken from the yacht, the BBC reported.

Arrest and extradition

Serhii K. was arrested in Italy in August 2025 on a European arrest warrant and handed over to Germany late last year after a court fight. A second Ukrainian suspect, Volodymyr Zhuravlov, won release in a Polish court in October 2025, but was later arrested in Croatia. The BBC says Croatia approved his extradition last month; AP reports he has applied for asylum there to resist it. It is not clear whether his case will join the Hamburg trial.

What each side says

• Ukraine: President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly said Ukraine was not involved. A senior Ukrainian lawmaker, Oleksandr Merezhko, told the BBC the German account is only "one of the versions".
• Russia: Moscow has blamed US and British intelligence, which they deny. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia expects "objectivity" from the trial, AP reported.
• Germany: The government has avoided commenting, saying the case is for the independent courts.

Why it matters

The case is sensitive because Germany is one of Ukraine's biggest backers. DW reports that parties such as the AfD and BSW, which want better ties with Moscow, are using the case to question German aid to Kyiv. An analyst quoted by AP expects little damage to Berlin–Kyiv relations even if Ukrainian state involvement is proven.

What happens next

• No verdict date has been announced.
• Watch for evidence on who ordered the operation, which prosecutors link to Ukrainian state bodies.
• Watch whether the second suspect is extradited from Croatia.

The defendant is presumed innocent until a court rules otherwise.