Croatian police have detained a second Ukrainian national in connection with the 2022 sabotage of the pipelines linking Russia to Europe
1-MIN READ1-MINBloombergPublished: 12:35am, 24 Aug 2026Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country played no role in the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines linking Russia to Europe, following the arrest in Croatia of a second Ukrainian suspect sought by Germany.
“Ukraine has never even been involved in even the idea of this operation,” Zelensky told reporters during the Ukraine Nordic-Baltic summit in Kyiv on Sunday. “I hope there will be results of the investigation. We are ready to help.”
Croatian police arrested a Ukrainian national identified only as Vladimir Z at Germany’s request, the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office said on Wednesday.
He is a trained scuba diver who was allegedly part of a group that used explosives to blow up the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm in September 2022, according to German authorities.
Last year, Ukrainian national Serhii K was arrested in Italy and extradited to Germany where he was later charged over the sabotage.
The Nord Stream 1 undersea link via the Baltic Sea to Germany was the main route for Russian pipeline gas flows before the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, while the second pipeline was completed but never operated. In 2021, the year before the war started, Nord Stream 1 delivered more than a third of Russia’s total gas exports to Europe.
