Poland detains Ukrainian suspected of blowing up Nord Stream gas pipelines

Polish authorities have detained a Ukrainian citizen, Volodymyr Z., suspected by Germany of involvement in sabotaging the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines.

As reported by Polish radio station RMF FM, the man, identified as Volodymyr Z., wanted under a European arrest warrant issued by a German court, has been detained in the Polish city of Pruszków.

He is currently held at the district prosecutor's office in Warsaw, with extradition proceedings expected to begin soon.

His lawyer, Tymoteusz Paprocki, has argued there are no grounds to hand him over to Germany.

Reports suggest the suspect is Volodymyr Zhuravlov, for whom Germany issued an arrest warrant in June 2024. Berlin has also sent Poland a European arrest warrant in his case.

Polish media have reported that Poland's Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski has been or still is prepared to grant asylum to Volodymyr Zhuravlov.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Ukrainian officials were involved in the blowing up of Nord Stream. In particular, it was claimed that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy approved the operation to blow up the pipeline and then tried unsuccessfully to cancel it. The operation reportedly took place under the supervision of Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the former commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Ukrainian authorities have publicly denied such allegations. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv had not been involved in the explosions and suggested analysing who might have sought to spread such claims in the media.