Ukrainian ex-officer Serhii K. goes on trial in Hamburg over the Nord Stream pipeline blasts

14 October 2026

The trial of a Ukrainian former military officer, identified under German privacy rules as Serhii K., opened on 14 October 2026 at the Hamburg Higher Regional Court.
Prosecutors say he led a group that attached timer-controlled explosives to the Nord Stream pipelines on the seabed near the Danish island of Bornholm on 26 September 2022.
He is charged with offences that include being an accomplice to war crimes by attacking civilian infrastructure, and he and Ukraine deny involvement.
He was arrested in Italy in August 2025 and extradited to Germany in November 2025.
The trial is expected to run into February 2027.