Second Ukrainian arrested in connection with Nord Stream pipeline explosions

Croatia Detains Second Ukrainian Linked to Nord Stream Sabotage

Poinews.com – German prosecutors confirmed on Wednesday that a second Ukrainian national has been taken into custody in connection with the September 2022 explosions that crippled the Nord Stream gas infrastructure beneath the Baltic Sea. The suspect, identified as “Vladimir Z” (Volodymyr in Ukrainian), was seized by local police in Pula, western Croatia, early Wednesday morning following the issuance of a European arrest warrant, according to a statement from Germany’s Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Role in the Underwater Operation

Prosecutors describe the man as a qualified diver who belonged to a team linked to Serhii K — a figure facing separate charges. That group, they allege, attached explosive charges to the “Nord Stream 1” and “Nord Stream 2” pipelines in the waters off the island of Bornholm in September 2022.

“The accused took part in the dives required for this purpose.”

The operation, per the statement, relied on a chartered vessel that carried the team from the German port of Rostock to the explosion site.

Scale of the Damage

The blasts, which occurred on 26 September 2022 — roughly seven months after Russia opened its full-scale invasion of Ukraine — tore apart three of the four submerged pipelines in the system originally constructed to transport Russian natural gas to Germany across the Baltic. Prosecutors maintain the aim was to

“permanently disrupt gas supplies through the pipelines”

thereby cutting off the revenue stream Moscow had been using to fund its military campaign in Ukraine.

Extradition Path and Prior Detention

Vladimir Z is expected to be transferred out of Croatia and subsequently presented before a judge at the Federal Court of Justice in Germany. He had previously been detained in Poland in 2025, but Polish authorities declined to hand him over, and he was set free.

The Other Accused

Serhii K, the Ukrainian army officer prosecutors say directed the sabotage team, was formally charged by German authorities in June. Italian police had arrested him in August 2025, and he was moved to Germany by November of that year. In July, the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office publicly identified him as a former Ukrainian military officer who had led the group responsible for the Nord Stream explosions.