WAIT, WHAT! Germany says Ukrainians blew up Nord Stream pipelines

Germany has asked Poland to arrest a Ukrainian diving instructor who was allegedly part of a team that blew up the Nord Stream gas pipelines two years ago, according to multiple reports.

The Polish National Public Prosecutor's office confirmed on Wednesday that Germany has indeed issued an arrest warrant. It said the suspect, named Volodymyr Z, couldn't be taken into custody because he fled to Ukraine in early July.

The multi-billion dollar Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines transporting gas under the Baltic Sea were ruptured by a series of blasts in September 2022, seven months after Russia launched a full-scale offensive on Ukraine.

German investigators believe the Ukrainian diver was part of a team that planted the explosives, the SZ and Die Zeit newspapers reported alongside the ARD broadcaster, citing unnamed sources.

The German prosecutor general's office declined to comment on the reports, which said the German government had handed Poland a European arrest warrant in June.

The revelations mark a dramatic turn in the entire saga, which saw international powers, including Russia and the United States, accuse each other of the sabotage.

Germany, Denmark, and Sweden all opened investigations into the incident, and the Swedes found traces of explosives on several objects recovered from the explosion site, confirming the blasts were deliberate acts.

However, for some unexplained reason, the Swedish and Danish probes were closed this February without identifying any suspect.

Suspected accomplices

Another man and a woman - also Ukrainian diving instructors - have been identified in Germany's investigation into the sabotage but so far no arrest warrants have been issued for them, according to SZ, Zeit and ARD.

The explosions destroyed three out of four Nord Stream pipelines, which had become a controversial symbol of German reliance on Russian gas in the wake of Moscow's offensive in Ukraine.

Russia blamed the United States, Britain and Ukraine for the blasts, which largely cut Russian gas off from the lucrative European market. Those countries have denied involvement.

Nord Stream was vital for carrying gas supplies to Germany, which struggled to meet its energy needs after the sabotage.

In January 2023, Germany raided a ship that it said may have been used to transport explosives and told the United Nations that it believed trained divers could have attached devices to the pipelines at a depth of about 70 to 80 metres (230-262 ft)