loading . . . Poland detains Ukrainian suspected in Nord Stream blasts, weighs extradition to Germany Polish police have detained a Ukrainian citizen suspected of involvement in the Nord Stream pipeline explosion, acting on a European arrest warrant issued by a German court.
RMF FM reported that the Ukrainian, identified as Volodymyr Z., was taken into custody in the city of Pruszkow and transferred to the district prosecutor’s office in Warsaw for further proceedings.
The detainee’s lawyer, Tymoteusz Paprocki, said there are no grounds for extradition.
“According to Volodymyr Z.’s defense, there is no basis to extradite him to the German justice system,” Paprocki said.
Paprocki also pointed to what he called the political context of the case.
“Given the full-scale war in Ukraine and the fact that Nord Stream belongs to the Russian company Gazprom, which finances this activity, the defense currently sees no possibility to bring charges,” he said.
The lawyer stressed there is no proof his client took part in a sabotage operation.
“It is not known at this time whether my client participated in this operation,” Paprocki said.
German investigators present a different account. They believe Volodymyr Z. was directly involved in the pipeline blast.
According to German authorities, the suspect is a diving instructor. In September 2022, he allegedly sailed from Rostock into the Baltic Sea on a yacht, dove, and placed explosives on the underwater pipeline.
Procedural steps on a possible extradition are ongoing. Warsaw prosecutors are preparing documents to forward the case to court.
Nord Stream blasts: What we know
On September 26, 2022, an explosion in the Baltic Sea near Denmark’s Bornholm island damaged three of the four Nord Stream pipeline strings, which had long carried gas from Russia to Germany. Moscow had fully halted supplies four weeks before the blast.
In Poland, many initially blamed Russia, alleging a sabotage operation. Prosecutors in Gdansk also investigated possible Russian involvement.
After Donald Tusk returned as prime minister, Germany looked to Poland for assistance in the probe.
On August 27, 2025, Die Zeit reported that German investigators had identified all suspects in the 2022 Nord Stream sabotage. Among the seven suspects were Ukrainian professional divers and military personnel.
Ukraine’s presidential office has denied any role. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the Office of the President, said Ukraine gained no strategic or tactical advantage from the blasts.
An appeals court in Bologna ordered the extradition to Germany’s Federal Court of Justice of former Ukrainian armed forces captain Serhii Kuznetsov, who was arrested on a European warrant in Rimini on August 21, 2025.
Corriere di Bologna reported on August 22 that Kuznetsov insisted he was in Ukraine at the time of the incident. https://www.uawire.org/poland-detains-ukrainian-suspected-in-nord-stream-blasts-weighs-extradition-to-germany
