New intelligence reviewed by US officials indicates that a pro-Ukrainian group sabotaged the Nord Stream pipelines that carried natural gas from Russia to Europe, but they have found no evidence of Kyiv government involvement in the September 2022 attack, the New York Times reported yesterday.
he US and Nato have called the attacks, which occurred seven months into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and destroyed three of the four pipelines, “an act of sabotage”.
Moscow has blamed Ukraine’s western supporters and has called on the UN Security Council to independently investigate. Neither side has provided evidence.
Citing US officials, the New York Times said there was no evidence that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky or his top aides were involved in the operation or that the perpetrators were acting at the behest of any Ukrainian government officials.
Responding to the report, Zelensky adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said the Kyiv government was “absolutely not involved” in the sabotage strike, and had no information about what had happened.
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Russia’s deputy United Nations ambassador, Dmitry Polyanskiy, told Reuters the report proved Moscow’s push for the Security Council to set up an independent inquiry was “very timely” and it would seek a vote on a draft resolution by the end of March.
The Times wrote that the intelligence review suggested those who carried out the attacks, which spewed gas into the Baltic Sea, were Ukrainian or Russian nationals who opposed Russian president Vladimir Putin, “but does not specify the members of the group, or who directed or paid for the operation”.
“US officials declined to disclose the nature of the intelligence, how it was obtained or any details of the strength of the evidence. They have said that there were no firm conclusions about it,” it added.
Built by Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom, the Nord Stream pipelines connected Russia and Germany and were opposed by Ukraine as they would have let Moscow sell more gas to western Europe.
The German government said it had taken note of the report but its own investigation has not yet reached results.
Sweden, Denmark and Germany informed the Security Council a few days ago that their investigations were continuing and that there were still no results, a German government spokesperson said.
Moscow has sent thousands of troops in waves over recent weeks to try to capture the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut and secure its first battlefield victory in more than half a year.
Ukrainian forces have dug trenches further west and in recent days had seemed to be preparing to pull out.
But Mr Zelensky yesterday publicly committed his troops to holding out in Bakhmut, apparently prolonging the war’s bloodiest battle in an attempt to break Moscow’s assault force.
His remarks in an overnight address suggested Kyiv had elected not only to stay and fight on but to reinforce the city, apparently convinced that Russia’s losses in trying to storm it would be greater than those of the defenders.
“I told the commander-
in-chief to find the appropriate forces to help our guys in Bakhmut,” he said.
Iryna Vereshchuk, a deputy Ukrainian premier, said on state TV that fewer than 4,000 civilians – including 38 children – out of a pre-war population of 70,000 remained in bombed-out Bakhmut.