• German federal prosecutors have filed charges against a Ukrainian man accused of masterminding the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, leading to a complete halt in gas flows to Germany.
• The suspect, identified as Serhiy K, is accused of war crimes, causing an explosion with explosives, and destroying infrastructure in the Baltic Sea operation near the Danish island of Bornholm.
• Serhiy K was arrested in Italy in August 2025 under a European arrest warrant and has been fighting extradition to Germany, where a state security panel in Hamburg will decide whether to admit the charges for trial.

German federal prosecutors have filed charges against a Ukrainian man accused of helping to mastermind the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines that once transported Russian natural gas to Germany, his lawyers confirmed on Wednesday.

Germany's top prosecutorial authority in Karlsruhe did not immediately confirm details of the indictment.

According to German media reports, however, federal prosecutors accuse the suspect, identified only as Serhiy K under German privacy laws, of war crimes, causing an explosion with explosives and destroying infrastructure.

Investigators believe Serhiy K coordinated the operation in the Baltic Sea, according to earlier statements by prosecutors.

A state security panel at the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court in Hamburg must now decide whether to admit the charges and when a trial could begin.

The explosions near the Danish Baltic island of Bornholm in September 2022 severely damaged both Nord Stream pipelines, bringing gas flows to a complete halt. Before the attack, Nord Stream 1 transported Russian natural gas to Germany, while Nord Stream 2 had not yet entered service.

In the months following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow had already repeatedly reduced or suspended deliveries through Nord Stream 1.

Serhiy K was arrested in August 2025 while on holiday with his family on Italy's Adriatic coast under a European arrest warrant. He fought extradition to Germany for months and at one point went on hunger strike, claiming he had been mistreated.