Ukraine war briefing: Nord Stream bombings were not us, Zelenskyy insists
After two arrests, Ukraine’s president says Germany ‘well aware’ Kyiv was not involved in planning or execution of sabotage mission. What we know on day 1,643
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy has insisted the Ukrainian government did not take part in the 2022 bombing of the Nord Stream undersea gas pipelines. Ukraine’s president said Germany was “well aware that Ukraine did not stand behind the execution or the very conception of this operation”. On Wednesday a Ukrainian man was arrested in Croatia on suspicion of taking part in the bombings. He wasreportedly working on a film about the plot when arrested. German prosecutors allege he collaborated with another Ukrainian man who was arrested in Italy in 2025.
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German prosecutors allege the Nord Stream bombings were ordered by the Ukrainian state. Zelenskky has always denied his country’s involvement. He said Kyiv was helping Berlin with its investigation and hoped it would not cause a rift in relations. “It is very important for us not to lose our partnership, not to lose the trust of European countries that have been helping Ukraine since the very beginning of this war.” The pipelines were built to carry natural gas from Russia to Germany.
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The “coalition of the willing” supporting Ukraine will meet in Kyiv of Monday. The meeting will be jointly chaired by the leaders of Britain, France and Germany. Ukraine on Monday celebrates independence while also marking exactly four and a half years since the Russian full-scale invasion of 24 February 2022. Andy Burnham, Britain’s prime minister, is set to announce that the British government will let defence firm MBDA release classified information so Ukraine and France can set up local production of the long-range Storm Shadow/Scalp missile, writes Kiran Stacey and Dan Sabbagh. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, has pledged Paris will deliver new the SAMP/T interceptor system, said to be capable of shooting down some types of ballistic missiles.
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The Russian online retailer Ozon said a drone attack caused a major fire that shut down its logistics hub in Krasnodar in southern Russia. Ukraine also hit Ozon warehouses in the central Orenburg region on Sunday, and the day before that, in the neighbouring Samara region. “After Ukrainian units hit the 15 largest logistics hubs of Wildberries, it is now Ozon’s turn,” said a Ukrainian defence ministry announcement. Authorities in Krasnodar claimed two children were killed and another nine people were injured when drone debris hit a private childcare centre. There was no independent confirmation. Early on Sunday, a drone attack was under way against an industrial area of Nevinnomyssk in Russia’s southern Stavropol region, its governor said. Nevinnomyssk is a major chemical production area.
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A Russian attack on the outskirts of Kharkiv in Ukraine’s north-east killed three people, the regional governor said late on Sunday. Emergency services evacuated eight people, some of whom were injured, said Oleh Syniehubov, adding that a search was under way for other possible casualties.
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Zelenskyy has said holding elections in Ukraine during wartime could split the country.Dan Sabbagh writes that Zelenskyy was responding to a demand for elections by Mykhailo Fedorov whom he sacked as defence minister. Supporters have distanced themselves from Fedorovo because of his call for elections. Zelenskyy said on Saturday: “I believe that if we want to destroy the country, then during such a war we can move in the selection of elections … Elections right now are a tsunami for the state that will split Ukraine.”
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Elections have been suspended by law in Ukraine since martial law was imposed in response to the Russian invasion. Zelenskyy said on Saturday that if Ukraine’s allies established “specific conditions” for a safe, legitimate and democratic election process he would support it. It would require “the participation of the military, in frontline territories, abroad, where millions of our citizens have gone, fleeing the war” and would have to occur “without strikes and shelling”.
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Zelenskyy said he had removed Fedorov as defence minister because he had overreached, intruding on functions belonging to the military. He was offered four alternative jobs in the government but declined them. “I really had and still have a very positive attitude toward Mykhailo,” Zelenskyy said. “We have been through a lot together. But I believe that he himself goes, or is pushed, into the wrong things.”
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Ukraine thinks that Russian president Vladimir Putin is planning to draft an additional 300,000 troops for the war after Russian parliamentary elections in mid-September. Zelenskyy described a “peripheral mobilisation” targeting Russia’s far-flung regions. “We believe it will not take place in the central cities,” he said. “But I don’t think they will be able to hide it very well.”
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