"There will definitely be no shame". Zaluzhnyi responds to "involvement" in Nord Stream blowing up

Investigators in Germany have concluded that an "elite Ukrainian military unit" under the command of the then-Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valeriy Zaluzhny Valeriy Zaluzhny, , was allegedly behind the September 2022 Nord Stream bombing, writes The Wall Street Journal. The general reacted.

"We will still have fun, but we will certainly never be ashamed," he wrote in a comment under the post on Facebook.

The newspaper's publication says that a group of German detectives, together with the police and prosecutors, have been investigating for three years at the police headquarters in Potsdam, trying to find out who was behind the Nord Stream bombing. It is claimed that they were able to develop a "clear picture" of how an unnamed "elite Ukrainian military unit" carried out the attacks under Zaluzhny's leadership.

According to sources familiar with the investigation, law enforcement officials traced the boat rental companies, phone numbers, and license plates. After that, German authorities issued arrest warrants for three soldiers of a special Ukrainian military unit and four veteran deep-sea divers .

The so-called "decisive evidence" was a grainy black-and-white photo showing the face of an alleged Ukrainian diver. It is alleged that the photo was used to identify him and find his social media profiles.

Sources say the sabotage is aimed at reducing Russia's oil revenues and reducing economic ties with Germany.

The WSJ also reported that one of the suspects was allegedly driven from Poland to Ukraine in a black BMW with diplomatic license plates, allegedly by a Ukrainian military attaché.

Another suspect was detained in Italy. He is alleged to have been the commander of a group to undermine Nord Stream, and in 2022 took part in the defense of Kyiv. Before his detention, he and his routes through Poland, the Czech Republic, and Italy had been under surveillance for several months.

At first, the detectives had only a photo of the man, which was taken from his travel passport – he used it during the operation, the interlocutors say. According to them, he had a real passport, but it was issued in someone else's name, which is "typical for operations of Ukrainian special services." The person with this name was not on social media, and his photo was not in the European or allied databases.

Later he was identified as 46-year-old Sergei K. (Sergei Kuznetsov was arrested in Italy on August 21), allegedly a veteran of the Security Service of Ukraine. According to the man's lawyer, his client is innocent, and even if he was involved in the operation, he acted within the protection of Ukraine, so he has immunity.

• The destruction of three of the four lines of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, designed to transport natural gas from Russia to Germany, occurred on September 26, 2022. At the time, they were not working due to full-scale Russian aggression, but were filled with gas.
• The EU immediately suspected deliberate sabotage and launched an investigation. Sweden, Denmark, and Germany launched separate investigations into the.

• In August 2024, the WSJ published a lengthy article in which accused Ukraine of undermining Nord Stream. The office of the president denied Ukraine's involvement in the sabotage.
• On November 4, it became known that Kuznetsov went on a hunger strike in an Italian maximum security prison.
• On the same day, Lubinets appealed to the Italian ombudsman to ensure the rights of the arrested Ukrainian. And on November 8, he met with his wife, who reported on the critical state of the Ukrainian's health.