The Warsaw District Court decided to remand Ukrainian Volodymyr Zh., who is suspected of blowing up the “Nord Stream 1” and “Nord Stream 2” gas pipelines in 2022, for seven days.
This is reported by RMF FM.
During this time, the prosecutorʼs office must receive documents from Germany, translated into Polish, after which it will decide whether to transfer him there.
Judge Agata Velholevska said that temporary arrest does not necessarily mean that Volodymyr Zh. will be kept in custody longer or extradited.
The suspectʼs lawyer Timoteusz Paprocki said he would appeal the decision. He said he considered the arrest to be too harsh and pointed to errors in his clientʼs personal data in the documents.
According to the lawyer, the allegations about Volodymyr Zh.ʼs possible escape are unfounded, as he has been living in Poland with his family for over three years and runs a construction business in Pruszków.
The court will reconsider the issue of the Ukrainianʼs arrest in seven days.
Volodymyr Zh. was detained in Poland on September 30. According to the German investigation, he is a diving instructor and in September 2022 went to the Baltic Sea on a yacht from “Rostock”, after which he went underwater and installed explosive charges on an underwater pipeline.
Nord Stream explosions
On September 26, 2022, 3 3 explosions occurred on the “Nord Stream 1” and “Nord Stream 2” pipelines, which run along the bottom of the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, causing massive gas leaks. Only one of the four strands of the pipeline remained intact.
The US, UK and EU governments have declared a deliberate sabotage. Russia believes that the US and its allies are interested in the bombings. Western and Russian media have written about different versions — from sabotage by the Russians themselves to the involvement of Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied Ukraineʼs involvement in the sabotage.
Germany is investigating the role of former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi in the sabotage of the “Nord Stream” pipeline, as reported by the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal. Zelensky allegedly initially approved the plan, but later ordered it canceled, and Zaluzhnyi continued the operation despite this.
On August 26, 2025, German investigators issued arrest warrants for six Ukrainians suspected of involvement in the bombing. Ukrainian Serhii Kuznetsov, who was detained in Italy and suspected of involvement in the sabotage, denies the charges. An Italian court allowed his extradition to Germany.
- In November 2024, the German newspaper Der Spiegel published an investigation that stated that the saboteurs who sabotaged “Nord Stream” also planned to blow up “TurkStream” in the Black Sea, but they failed.
- In early February 2024, Sweden closed its investigation into the “Nord Stream” sabotage due to lack of jurisdiction. Following Sweden, Denmark also closed its investigation.
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