Ukraine’s presidential adviser denies Ukraine’s involvement in Nord Stream explosions By Reuters

By Pavel Polityuk

KIEV (Reuters) – Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak denied his country’s involvement in explosions that damaged the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and instead pointed the finger at Russia in comments to Reuters on Thursday.

“Such an act can only be accomplished with extensive technical and financial resources … and who had all of that at the time of the bombings? Only Russia,” Podolyak said in his written comments.

The multibillion-dollar Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines carrying gas under the Baltic Sea were ruptured by a series of explosions in September 2022, seven months after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Polish prosecutors said on Wednesday that Poland had received a European arrest warrant issued by Berlin in connection with the attack, but the suspect, a Ukrainian man named Volodymyr Z, had already left Poland.

On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that high-ranking Ukrainian officials were involved.

“Ukraine has nothing to do with the Nord Stream explosions,” Podolyak said, adding that Ukraine did not gain any strategic or tactical advantage from the explosion.

Russia has already blamed the United States, Britain and Ukraine for the explosions, which have largely cut off Russian gas from the lucrative European market. These countries have denied involvement.

Germany, Denmark and Sweden opened investigations into the incident, and the Swedes found traces of explosives on several items recovered from the blast site, confirming that the explosions were deliberate acts.