For Ukraine, this is a new turn in a high-profile case that has strained relations with the EU for four years: on Wednesday, August 19, a Ukrainian was detained in the Croatian city of Pula, whom Germany suspects of participating in sabotage on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines.
As HN reports citing the Spolková prokuratúra (Federal Prosecutor's Office of Germany), the detainee is a Ukrainian citizen Vladimir Z., a professional diver. German authorities do not disclose his full surname due to data protection rules. The arrest was made based on a European arrest warrant, and now Croatia must decide whether to extradite him to Germany.
What is known about the case
This is the second person detained in the case. According to the German investigation, the group of seven people was led by a former Ukrainian army officer Serhii K. (in some sources — Kuznietsov), who was charged in July 2026. He was detained in Italy in the summer of 2025 and later extradited to Germany.
Investigators believe the group rented the yacht Andromeda in a German port and planted explosives from it. The explosions occurred on September 26, 2022 near the Danish island of Bornholm and damaged three of the four lines of both gas pipelines, writes Euractiv.
An interesting detail: Vladimir Z. had already been in the hands of law enforcement. In the fall of 2025, he was detained in Poland, but the Polish court rejected Germany's extradition request, and the suspect was released. Whether the Croatian court will repeat the Polish scenario will be seen in the coming weeks.
The sabotage investigation is currently conducted only by Germany. Sweden and Denmark closed their own proceedings in February 2024, noting that although it was sabotage, there was insufficient basis for criminal prosecution in their jurisdictions.
