Ukrainian ex-officer goes on trial in Germany over Nord Stream blasts

A Ukrainian former military officer is standing trial in Germany, accused of organising the secret operation that blew up the Nord Stream gas pipelines in 2022 and cut Western Europe off from its biggest source of Russian natural gas. The trial opened on Wednesday at the Hamburg Higher Regional Court and is expected to run into February next year. It is the first public hearing of the evidence in a years-long investigation. The defendant, a 50-year-old identified under German privacy rules only as Serhii K., is accused of leading a group of Ukrainian agents – including divers and an explosives expert – in one of the biggest infrastructure sabotage operations of modern times. Serhii K.