President Zelensky's Adviser Denies Ukraine's Involvement In Nord Stream Gas Pipe Explosion

Leaks of the Nord Stream gas pipeline. (Twitter/@nexta_tv)

JAKARTA - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, denied his country's involvement in the explosion that damaged the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, blaming it on Russia.

"Such action can only be done with great technical and financial resources. And who had all of this at the time of the bombing? Only Russia," Podolyak said as part of his written comments to Reuters.

The billion-dollar Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines carrying gas under the Baltic Sea broke out due to a series of explosions in September 2022, seven months after Russia launched a massive invasion of Ukraine.

Earlier, the German prosecutor's office issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian diver instructor living in Poland, suspected of being involved in a terrorist attack on the Nord Stream pipeline.

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

On the previous Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported top Ukrainian officials were involved in what happened.

"Ukraine has nothing to do with the Nord Stream explosion," Podolyak said, adding Ukraine did not benefit from any strategic or tactical benefits from the explosion.

Russia itself blames the United States, Britain and Ukraine for the explosion, which largely cut off Russian gas supply from the lucrative European market. These countries have denied involvement.

Meanwhile, the Russian Attorney General's Office filed a case of international acts of terrorism related to the sabotage of Nord Stream, Sputnik reported.

It is known that Germany, Denmark, and Sweden all opened investigations into the incident. Sweden found traces of explosives on several objects found from the site of the explosion, confirming the explosion was intentional.

Nord Stream AG, operator of Nord Stream, reported that damage to pipeline networks had never happened before and it was unlikely to estimate the period of repair of the damage.