German federal prosecutors have formally accused a Ukrainian army officer of helping carry out the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, alleging the operation was ordered by Ukrainian state authorities. In an indictment announced on Thursday and sourced by Deutsche Welle, prosecutors said Serhiy Kuznetsov, 50, and six accomplices acted “on the orders of state authorities in Ukraine” to destroy the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines linking Russia with Europe.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. According to prosecutors, Kuznetsov was serving as an officer in the Ukrainian military at the time of the operation, while the other members of the group were also military personnel. Investigators allege the team’s objective was to permanently halt Russian gas deliveries through the pipelines and deny Moscow energy revenues that could be used to finance its war against Ukraine. The allegations place Germany, one of Kyiv’s strongest military and financial backers, in a diplomatically sensitive position if they are upheld in court. German prosecutors said the group traveled from Ukraine to Germany using forged Ukrainian passports before renting the yacht Andromeda from a company in the northern port city of Rostock. The suspects allegedly sailed to waters near the Danish island of Bornholm, where they attached explosive charges containing military-grade HMX and RDX explosives to the underwater pipelines using timed detonators.