The arrest at the resort

Serhii K checked into a glamping resort near Italy's Adriatic coast with his wife and children, unaware German police had identified him as Europe's biggest sabotage suspect.

The Baltic Sea explosions

At two oh three am on twenty-sixth September twenty twenty-two, explosions ripped through Nord Stream pipelines beneath the Baltic Sea, severing gas supplies to Germany and rendering both pipelines inoperable.

How the sabotage was carried out

Prosecutors say high-performance explosives weighing up to twenty-seven kilograms each were planted approximately eighty metres below the surface and activated with timers.

Initial suspicion fell on Russia

As news of the blasts spread, experts and some governments initially blamed Moscow, citing its history of hybrid attacks and using energy supplies for political pressure.German police ignored the noise and followed forensic evidence instead.

The investigation led to Ukraine

German police followed forensic crumbs that eventually led to Ukraine. Investigators allege Serhii K entered Germany on a forged passport likely issued by Ukraine's security services to carry out the Nord Stream attack.

A year of undetected travel

After the attacks, Serhii K travelled widely without incident for a year. His real passport contained more than two dozen stamps from countries including France, Spain and Canada, all dated after the Nord Stream explosions.

The capture in Italy

By thirteenth August twenty twenty-five, Germany had identified Serhii K as its key suspect. When he showed his passport at the glamping resort check-in, local carabinieri received an automatic alert and arrested him that night.

The trial begins in Hamburg

Following extradition to Germany and months in isolation in a high security prison, Serhii K will go on trial in Hamburg next week.

Ukraine's denial and silence

Both Serhii K and Ukraine have denied any involvement in the Nord Stream explosions.Ukraine's government has remained silent on the case, frustrating some Ukrainians who believe he should not face prosecution as a military man.

“Many Ukrainians believe that these pipelines, they helped Russia to fight so blowing them up was a good thing for our country.”

A second suspect in Croatia

Volodymyr Zhuravlyov is currently fighting extradition from Croatia where he was arrested in August. He is a deep-sea diver and civilian who has lived in Warsaw since before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Poland refused to extradite Zhuravlyov

Last year, a Polish judge refused to extradite Zhuravlyov on a German warrant, ruling instead that a Ukrainian attack on Nord Stream, if that happened, would be a just act in a bloody and genocidal…

Political pressure on Berlin and Kyiv

Germany is now Ukraine's biggest supplier of military aid, making the trial awkward for both governments.The far-right AfD party has seized on the Nord Stream case to argue that support for Kyiv needs to stop.

Ukraine's counter-argument

Ukraine's foreign ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi told the BBC that the discussion should focus on who built the pipelines, not who blew them up.

“I find it very unfortunate that this entire discussion has come to focus on who blew [the pipelines] up, rather than who built them.”

Serhii K will not testify

Serhii K's military ID shows he was in active service when the pipelines were blown up.