A Ukrainian individual has been apprehended in Croatia in connection to the underwater blasts that caused destruction to the Nord Stream gas pipelines linking Russia and Germany in 2022, as announced by Germany’s federal prosecutor on Wednesday. The arrested individual, Vladimir Z., a proficient scuba diver, was part of a group that planted explosives on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm in September 2022, according to prosecutors. He is under suspicion of collaborating in causing explosions, anti-constitutional sabotage, and destruction of buildings and structures. The German government expressed satisfaction with the arrest, emphasizing the importance of clarifying the pipeline bombings.
Earlier last month, German federal prosecutors pressed charges against a former Ukrainian army officer, identified as Serhii K., in connection to the same explosions. Serhii K. was detained in Italy in August 2025 and extradited to Germany in November, facing charges of explosion, property damage, disruption of public service, and complicity in war crimes by targeting civilian objects. It is alleged by German authorities that Serhii K. and accomplices departed from the port of Rostock using a yacht rented from a German company.
Germany intends to seek the extradition of the suspect. Poland previously resisted the extradition of an individual with the same name and initial. A spokesperson confirmed that the individual, identified by Polish authorities as Volodymyr Zhuravlov, is the same person. Poland’s opposition to the Nord Stream pipelines, considering them a Russian attempt to leverage energy resources across Europe, led to the decision not to extradite Zhuravlov.
Undersea explosions on September 26, 2022, inflicted damage on the pipelines designed to transport Russian natural gas to Germany through the Baltic Sea, escalating tensions amid the Ukraine conflict. The blasts affected the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, Russia’s primary gas supply route to Germany, as well as the Nord Stream 2, which remained uncertified following Germany’s suspension of the process before Russia’s invasion. Russia has accused the U.S. of orchestrating the explosions, with Washington denying the allegations. The Ukrainian government has also refuted any involvement in the incident.