Zelensky's covert nod: Nord Stream II destruction saga unraveled

The American newspaper cited four senior Ukrainian officials who requested anonymity.

According to the WSJ, in May 2022, a handful of high-ranking Ukrainian army officers and businessmen gathered to celebrate their country's success in halting the Russian invasion. Under the influence of alcohol and in a patriotic fervor, someone suggested the next radical step: destroying the Nord Stream pipelines.

A little over four months later, in the morning hours of September 26, Scandinavian seismologists received signals indicative of an underwater earthquake or volcanic eruption hundreds of miles away, near the Danish island of Bornholm. These were caused by three powerful explosions and the largest release of natural gas in history, equivalent to the annual CO2 emissions of Denmark.

According to the WSJ, the Ukrainian operation cost about $300,000. It involved a small rented yacht with a six-person crew, including trained civilian divers. One of them was a woman, whose presence helped create the illusion that they were a group of friends on a pleasant cruise.

President Zelensky initially approved the plan, according to one of the officers involved and three individuals familiar with it. Later, however, when the CIA learned about it and asked the Ukrainian president to halt the operation, he ordered a stop to the activities.

Zelensky's commander, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, who led the operation, continued the efforts despite this. The newspaper spoke with four senior Ukrainian defense and security officials who either participated in the plan's execution or had direct knowledge of it. They all stated that the pipelines were a legitimate target in Ukraine's defensive war against Russia.

The WSJ notes that parts of their accounts were confirmed by nearly two years of investigation by German police into the attack, during which evidence was obtained, including emails, cell phone and satellite data, as well as fingerprints and DNA samples from the alleged sabotage team members. The German investigation did not directly link President Zelensky to the covert operation.

General Zaluzhnyi, currently the Ukrainian ambassador to the United Kingdom, told the newspaper that he knows nothing about any such operation, and any suggestions otherwise are "mere provocation." He added that the Ukrainian armed forces were not authorized to conduct foreign missions and, therefore, could not have been involved.

In September 2022, the perpetrators rented a 165-foot recreational yacht named Andromeda in the German Baltic port of Rostock. According to Ukrainian officers and individuals familiar with the German investigation, the boat was rented with the help of a Polish travel agency, which had been established as a cover for financial transactions almost 10 years earlier by Ukrainian intelligence.

The crew, armed only with diving equipment, satellite navigation, a portable sonar, and open sea floor maps marking the pipeline's location, set off. Four divers worked in pairs, according to those familiar with the German investigation. Operating in pitch-black, icy waters, they used octogen, a powerful explosive also known as HMX, connected to time-controlled detonators. A small amount of the lightweight explosive was sufficient to burst the high-pressure pipes.

Wanting to leave Germany quickly, the sabotage group neglected to clean the Andromeda, which allowed German detectives to find traces of explosives, fingerprints, and DNA samples from the crew.