In a dramatic development that has reignited international intrigue around the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline explosions, Polish authorities have arrested a Ukrainian national suspected of direct involvement in the sabotage that ruptured a vital energy artery between Russia and Germany. The arrest of Volodymyr Z., a trained diver and diving instructor, comes amid lingering questions about who orchestrated the attack that plunged Europe deeper into an energy crisis already inflamed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
According to a statement from German prosecutors reported by BBC, Volodymyr Z. was detained in the early hours of Tuesday, September 30, 2025, in Pruszków, a town near Warsaw. The arrest was made under a European arrest warrant issued by German authorities, who have been investigating the Nord Stream explosions since they occurred on September 26, 2022. Piotr Antoni Skiba, a spokesman for the Warsaw District Prosecutor’s Office, confirmed, “He is currently being investigated for the execution of a European Arrest Warrant.”
The Nord Stream explosions—described by both Moscow and Western governments as a deliberate act—destroyed three of the four pipelines designed to transport Russian natural gas under the Baltic Sea to Germany. The attack, which occurred several months into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, cut off a critical supply route just as European leaders were scrambling to secure energy resources. While Moscow had already halted flows through Nord Stream 1 weeks earlier, and Nord Stream 2 had never entered service after Berlin suspended its certification, the sabotage deepened the continent’s energy woes.
German prosecutors first identified Volodymyr Z. as a suspect in August 2024, describing him as a diving instructor living in Pruszków. However, despite the issuance of a European arrest warrant, authorities were unable to locate him until now. His lawyer, Tymoteusz Paprocki, has already indicated that the extradition to Germany will be challenged, arguing that the European arrest warrant is inadmissible due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. Paprocki told Reuters, “The attack on Nord Stream infrastructure concerns one of the pipeline’s owners, Gazprom, which directly finances the military operations in Ukraine.”
This arrest is the second major breakthrough in the Nord Stream case in as many months. In August 2025, Italian police detained another Ukrainian national, Serhii K., in the province of Rimini. German prosecutors allege that Serhii K. played a coordinating role in the operation. Italian courts have cleared his extradition to Germany, but his lawyer has appealed the decision to Italy’s highest court of appeal. According to German authorities, both men are “strongly suspected of jointly causing an explosion with explosives, anti-constitutional sabotage, and destruction of buildings.”
Prosecutors believe that the suspects were part of a team that sailed a yacht named Andromeda from the German port of Rostock out into the Baltic Sea, near the Danish island of Bornholm. The yacht, rented using forged identity documents through intermediaries, is thought to have been the platform from which the team placed explosives on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines. German reports cited by BBC suggest that seven suspects have been identified in connection with the blasts, including former members of a private diving school in Kyiv. One of the suspects has since died.
The Nord Stream explosions remain one of the most mysterious acts of sabotage in recent European history. No group has admitted responsibility, and the attack has fueled a blizzard of accusations and counter-accusations between Russia, Ukraine, Western governments, and even independent journalists. Ukraine has consistently denied any involvement, while Russia has pointed the finger at the United States and the United Kingdom—allegations both nations have flatly denied. Notably, veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has echoed Moscow’s claims, but Washington has dismissed his assertions as baseless.
Western suspicion has often fallen on Moscow, given the Kremlin’s history of using energy as a geopolitical weapon. However, German media and prosecutors have more recently pointed to the possible involvement of a pro-Ukraine group, though they have stressed that there is no direct evidence linking any state actor to the attack. A Wall Street Journal report even claimed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky authorized the attack but later tried to abort the mission under pressure from the CIA—a claim that remains unsubstantiated and has not been confirmed by German authorities.
Investigations into the Nord Stream sabotage have spanned multiple countries. Germany, Denmark, and Sweden all launched probes into the incident. However, the Swedish and Danish investigations were closed in February 2023 without identifying any suspects. To date, no evidence has emerged linking Ukraine, Russia, or any other state directly to the attacks. As BBC reported, “There is no evidence so far linking Ukraine, Russia or any other state to the attacks.”
For Europe, the timing of the Nord Stream blasts could hardly have been worse. The continent was already facing soaring energy prices and shortages due to the war in Ukraine and the resulting sanctions and supply disruptions. The destruction of the pipelines not only deprived Germany and other European countries of a key source of natural gas but also underscored the vulnerability of critical infrastructure in an era of hybrid warfare and geopolitical rivalry.
The ongoing legal proceedings against Volodymyr Z. and Serhii K. are likely to be lengthy and complex. Both men are expected to contest their extradition to Germany. Meanwhile, the broader investigation continues, with German prosecutors reportedly still seeking to identify and apprehend additional suspects. Their efforts are complicated by the international nature of the case and the use of forged documents and sophisticated operational planning by the alleged perpetrators.
As the legal process unfolds, the world is left to ponder the unanswered questions: Who really ordered the Nord Stream attack, and what was their ultimate goal? Was this the work of rogue actors, a clandestine state operation, or a combination of both? For now, the arrest of Volodymyr Z. marks a significant step forward in unraveling a case that has kept Europe—and the world—guessing for more than three years.
The latest developments in the Nord Stream investigation serve as a stark reminder of the enduring tensions and unresolved mysteries at the heart of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and the far-reaching consequences these have for global security and energy stability.