Ukrainian colonel named over attack on Nord Stream pipeline

A UKRAINIAN special forces officer has been identified as one of the commanders of a Ukrainian mission that bombed the Nord Stream gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea last year.

The Washington Post reported that Colonel Roman Chervinsky was the “co-ordinator” of the attack on the pipeline running from Russia to Germany that infuriated the White House.

It quoted “people knowledgeable about the operation” as saying the 48-year-old had organised the logistics for a covert six-man team. They also claimed he took orders from a Ukrainian general who reported to General Valery Zaluzhny, the Ukrainian commander-in-chief, cutting out President Volodymyr Zelensky from the operation.

The Ukrainian sabotage team rented a yacht which it sailed above the pipeline. The team used deep-sea diving equipment to plant bombs on the pipeline, which exploded on Sept 26, 2022.

The CIA had been tipped off about the operation and had lobbied for it to be cancelled, as the US considered the pipeline to be critical civilian infrastructure but its pleas were ignored.

Through his lawyers, Col Chervinsky, currently on trial in Kyiv for disobeying orders during a separate failed operation, denied the accusation that he was a commander in the operation.

“All speculation about my involvement in the attack on the Nord Stream pipeline are being spread by Russian propaganda without any basis,” he said.

Media coverage initially assumed Russia had attacked the pipeline, 51 per cent owned by the Russian state energy company Gazprom, but within a few weeks, European intelligence agencies had started to blame a possibly rogue element of Ukraine’s special forces.

Col. Chervinsky’s reported role in the mission firms up the idea that a Ukrainian special forces branch has been operating without Mr Zelensky’s awareness. Relations between Mr Zelensky and Gen. Zaluzhny are strained.

In an essay for The Economist this month, General Zaluzhny wrote that the war on the frontline had reached a stalemate, interpreted as an admission that Ukraine’s Nato-backed counteroffensive had failed.

This angered Mr Zelensky, who said his top general was speaking out of turn and that Ukrainian troops would continue to attack Russian forces. He has also complained that Ukraine’s Western allies are losing interest in the war because of the conflict in Gaza.

On Ukraine’s eastern frontline, Western military intelligence agencies have said fighting around Avdiivka is still raging fiercely. Ukrainian officials have estimated that Russia has lost 10,000 soldiers in the battle in the past month.

Estonian military intelligence said that, despite the heavy losses, Russian forces have seized the initiative, although it also said Ukraine was holding its frontline and that unseasonably humid weather was making mudsoaked roads virtually impassable.

‘All speculation about my involvement in the attack on Nord Stream are spread by Russian propaganda’