Ukrainian ex-officer goes on trial in Germany over Nord Stream blasts乌克兰前军官因北溪天然气管道爆炸事件在德国受审
The trial is expected to run into February and could test Germany’s political stance on Ukraine.
The trial is expected to run into February and could test Germany’s political stance on Ukraine.
Police escort Serhii K. to a helicopter following a hearing with the German Federal Public Prosecutor, after Italy's top court approved the handover to Germany of the Ukrainian man suspected of coordinating the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, in Karlsruhe, Germany, on November 28, 2025 [Thilo Schmuelgen/Reuters]
A Ukrainian former military officer is standing trial in Germany, accused of organising the secret operation that blew up the Nord Stream gas pipelines in 2022 and cut Western Europe off from its biggest source of Russian natural gas.
The trial opened on Wednesday at the Hamburg Higher Regional Court and is expected to run into February next year.
list 1 of 3 German prosecutors charge Ukrainian suspect over Nord Stream explosions
list 2 of 3 Why the world should care about the far right’s rise in Germany
list 3 of 3 Ukrainian suspect, a ‘trained scuba diver’, arrested over Nord Stream blast
It is the first public hearing of the evidence in a years-long investigation.
The defendant, a 50-year-old identified under German privacy rules only as Serhii K., is accused of leading a group of Ukrainian agents – including divers and an explosives expert – in one of the biggest infrastructure sabotage operations of modern times.
He denies any involvement and is the only person on trial.
Serhii K. was arrested in Italy in August 2025 and extradited to Germany that November.
Prosecutors accused him of working with other members of the military to plan the operation on behalf of unidentified Ukrainian state entities.
They allege he travelled to Germany through Poland on a forged Ukrainian passport about three weeks before the attack.
They say the group used a sailboat hired in the northern city of Rostock to reach an area near the Danish island of Bornholm, where they attached military-grade explosives with timers to the pipelines on the seabed.
German prosecutors say attacking civilian targets and destroying infrastructure in this way would amount to a war crime.
A handout picture released on September 27, 2022, by the Danish Defence Command shows the gas leak at the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline [Handout/Danish Defence Command via AFP]
The blasts and the fallout
On September 26, 2022, Swedish seismologists detected several blasts, some 17 hours apart.
Three of the four concrete-coated steel pipelines ruptured, sending huge plumes of methane into the atmosphere.
Nord Stream 1 had supplied about half of Germany’s natural gas imports. Its twin, Nord Stream 2, was built but never opened, after Berlin cancelled approval shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine.
Moscow denied blowing up its own pipelines and had already cut supplies in response to European sanctions.
Ukraine’s government denies involvement.
Russia said on Monday it expected a “just verdict” naming the perpetrators and those who ordered the operation.
Another suspect, Vladimir Z., a trained scuba diver who prosecutors say was one of the divers on the team, was arrested in Croatia in August.
Last month, a Croatian court approved handing over the wanted man to Germany.
The Nord Stream case has strained ties between Berlin and Kyiv, even as Germany remains one of Ukraine’s strongest backers, with Russia and Ukraine still trading strikes.
审判预计将持续到二月份，并可能考验德国在乌克兰问题上的政治立场。
2025年11月28日，在德国卡尔斯鲁厄，警方在与德国联邦检察官举行听证会后，护送涉嫌策划2022年北溪天然气管道破坏事件的乌克兰男子谢尔盖·K前往直升机。[蒂洛·施穆尔根/路透社]
一名乌克兰前军官在德国受审，他被指控组织了2022年炸毁北溪天然气管道的秘密行动，切断了西欧最大的俄罗斯天然气来源。
该案于周三在汉堡高等地区法院开庭审理，预计将持续到明年二月。
德国检察官就北溪天然气管道爆炸事件对乌克兰嫌疑人提起诉讼（共3项指控，此为第1项）
列表 2（共 3 条）：为什么世界应该关注德国极右势力的崛起
名单3/3：一名“受过训练的潜水员”乌克兰嫌疑人因北溪天然气管道爆炸事件被捕
这是历时数年调查中首次公开听证会。
被告人现年 50 岁，根据德国隐私法仅以 Serhii K. 的化名示人。他被指控领导一群乌克兰特工（包括潜水员和一名爆炸物专家）实施了现代史上规模最大的基础设施破坏行动之一。
他否认参与其中，并且是唯一受审的人。
Serhii K. 于 2025 年 8 月在意大利被捕，并于同年 11 月被引渡到德国。
检察官指控他与其他军方成员合作，代表身份不明的乌克兰国家实体策划了这次行动。
他们声称，袭击发生前大约三周，他持伪造的乌克兰护照经波兰前往德国。
据称，该团伙租用了一艘在北部城市罗斯托克租来的帆船，抵达丹麦博恩霍尔姆岛附近的海域，在那里他们将带有定时器的军用级炸药安装在海底的管道上。
德国检察官表示，以这种方式袭击平民目标和破坏基础设施将构成战争罪。
丹麦国防司令部于 2022 年 9 月 27 日发布的一张照片显示，北溪 2 号天然气管道发生天然气泄漏。[丹麦国防司令部供图，经法新社发布]
爆炸及其后果
2022年9月26日，瑞典地震学家探测到数次爆炸，每次爆炸间隔约17小时。
四条混凝土包裹的钢制管道中有三条破裂，向大气中排放了大量的甲烷。
北溪1号曾供应德国约一半的天然气进口量。它的姊妹管道北溪2号已经建成，但由于柏林在俄罗斯入侵乌克兰前不久取消了批准，因此从未投入使用。
莫斯科否认炸毁了自己的输油管道，并且已经削减了对欧洲的供应，以回应欧洲的制裁。
乌克兰政府否认参与其中。
俄罗斯周一表示，希望得到“公正的判决”，明确指出肇事者和下令实施行动的人。
另一名嫌疑人弗拉基米尔·Z，是一名受过训练的潜水员，检察官称他是该团队的潜水员之一，于 8 月在克罗地亚被捕。
上个月，克罗地亚一家法院批准将这名通缉犯移交给德国。
尽管德国仍然是乌克兰最坚定的支持者之一，但北溪天然气管道项目使柏林和基辅之间的关系变得紧张，而俄罗斯和乌克兰仍在相互发动袭击。