Today, September 4, a court hearing was supposed to take place in Croatia on the extradition of Ukrainian Volodymyr Zhuravlyov to Germany in the case of the sabotage of the “Nord Stream” pipeline, but the trial was postponed.
This was reported by lawyers representing Zhuravlyov.
The trial was postponed because the German side updated the European arrest warrant and added a new qualification to it — "war crime".
"For the defense, this means a new stage in the fight for the rights of Ukrainian citizens. We continue to work. We will report on further developments in the case immediately," the lawyers added.
“Nord Stream” explosions
On September 26, 2022, three 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.
On August 26, 2025, German investigators issued arrest warrants for six Ukrainians suspected of involvement in the bombing. The main suspect in the case is Ukrainian Serhiy Kuznetsov, believed to be the commander of the group that blew up the gas pipelines. He denies the charges.
In August 2025, Kuznetsov was detained in Italy, and in November he was extradited to Germany and arrested there. On July 1, 2026, German prosecutors officially indicted Kuznetsov, and he is scheduled to stand trial in Hamburg, Germany, at the end of October.
Another suspect — Volodymyr Zhuravlyov — was detained in Croatia on August 19 and charged with conspiracy to commit an explosion, unconstitutional sabotage, and destruction of structures.
According to the German investigation, he was one of the divers who planted explosives on gas pipelines. They want to extradite him to Germany. This is the third attempt by German investigators to detain him. In 2024, they tried to arrest Zhuravlyov in Poland, but he managed to leave for Ukraine.
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