BERLIN: German prosecutors said Thursday that the Ukrainian state ordered a 2022 bomb attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines, complicating relations between Kyiv and its key military backer Berlin.
The sabotage, never claimed by any actor, destroyed three of the four Baltic seafloor pipelines of the major energy link from Russia to Germany and released huge amounts of methane into the atmosphere.
The Ukrainian government has always denied ordering the destruction of the pipelines, which had in earlier times allowed Russia to earn billions through gas sales to Germany and beyond.
News broke Wednesday that German prosecutors had now levelled charges against the Ukrainian suspect Serhii Kuznetsov, who is alleged to have led a team of divers in the high-stakes operation.
He was arrested while on holiday in Italy last summer and extradited to Germany in November.
