Germany’s top prosecutor has indicted a Ukrainian national over the 2022 explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines beneath the Baltic Sea, bringing one of Europe’s most politically sensitive sabotage investigations closer to trial.

The indictment against the suspect, identified under German privacy rules only as Serhii K, was served on Wednesday, according to the Berlin law firm representing him. The firm did not disclose the specific charges.

German media reported that prosecutors accuse him of attacking civilian energy infrastructure, causing an explosion and destroying structures. The federal prosecutor’s office declined to comment.

According to arrest warrant documents, previous statements and a 2025 ruling by Germany’s Federal Court of Justice, prosecutors allege that Serhii K helped coordinate a team that used the sailing yacht Andromeda to place explosive devices on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines near Denmark’s Bornholm island in September 2022.

Investigators believe the crew included a coordinator, a skipper, four deep-sea divers and an explosives specialist. Prosecutors suspect Serhii K acted as the team’s onboard coordinator and leader, but not as a diver or explosives expert.

Serhii K has denied any involvement.

The explosions, described by both Russia and Western countries as sabotage, disabled major routes for Russian gas supplies to Europe months after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, worsening the continent’s energy crisis.

German courts have ruled that the case falls under German jurisdiction because the pipelines terminate at Lubmin in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and their destruction affected Germany’s energy security and internal safety.

Court records identify the suspect as a Ukrainian national who was serving as an officer in a Ukrainian special forces unit at the time of the explosions. He was arrested in Italy last August and transferred to Germany in November, where a judge activated a German arrest warrant.