According to US intelligence agencies, pro-Ukraine groups deliberately damaged the undersea Nord Stream pipeline that supplies natural gas from Russia to Europe, but there was no evidence of Kyiv's involvement.
According to the Reuters news agency, Russia has blamed the incident, which damaged three of four pipelines in September 2022, on Ukraine's Western backers and has called for an independent investigation by the UN National Security Committee.
However, neither party has presented any evidence in this regard.
The New York Times quoted US officials as saying that there was no evidence that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky or his top advisers were involved in the operation, nor that the damage was done at the direction of the Ukrainian government.
White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday that Germany, Sweden, and Denmark are awaiting the results of ongoing investigations before determining the appropriate course of action.
Reacting to the US report, Mykhailo Podoliak, an advisor to President Zelensky, told Reuters that the "Kyiv government is not involved at all and does not have any information in this regard."
According to the report, the people involved in the pipeline explosions belong to Ukraine or Russia or include citizens of both countries who are also opponents of President Vladimir Putin.
Natural gas is transported directly from Russia to Germany through an undersea pipeline built by the Russian state-owned company Gazprom. Construction of Nord Stream One was completed in 2011 while Nord Stream Two was completed in 2021.
It should be noted that there were reports of a gas leak from the Nord pipeline passing through the Baltic Sea, due to which the gas supply was cut off.
Germany, Denmark, and Sweden declared the pipeline leakage, not an accident but an attack, after which Europe started investigating the incident. And the US has offered Europe the security of energy installations.
A report published in the German magazine Spiegel last year also hinted at the attack.
"The German government was tipped off by the CIA over the summer about possible targeting of gas pipelines that Berlin believed to be the Nord One and Nord Two pipelines," the report said. '
After the incident, the prime ministers of Sweden and Denmark said in a statement that "it is clear that the pipeline was deliberately damaged, including an element of possible sabotage." Poland has also been accused of sabotage, but no evidence has been presented on their behalf.
