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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied Kiev’s involvement in the Nord Stream pipeline explosion. Photo/Politico
KIEV – President Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky denied his government’s involvement in sabotaging the gas pipeline Nord Stream 1 and 2. This was disclosed to German publisher Axel Springer.
“I am the president and I give orders accordingly. Ukraine has never done anything of the sort. I would never act like that,” Zelensky said, asking for proof of Ukraine’s involvement, as quoted by Al Jazeera, Thursday (8/6/2023).
Zelensky’s remarks were in response to an article that appeared in The Washington Post, which reported that the US government was aware of Ukraine’s high-level plans to sabotage the Nord Stream pipeline. The information comes from European intelligence agencies based on information obtained from an individual in Ukraine.
According to the Washington Post, Joe Biden’s administration was aware of the plan three months before the Nord Stream pipe-bombing sabotage occurred. The information was provided by a close US ally that the Ukrainian military had been planning a covert attack on the underwater network, using small teams of divers who reported directly to the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces.
Details about the plan, which had never been reported before, were collected by European intelligence services and shared with the CIA in June 2022.
They provide some of the most specific evidence to date linking the Ukrainian government to the latest attack in the Baltic Sea, which US and Western officials have called a brazen and dangerous act of sabotage against Europe’s energy infrastructure.
“European intelligence made it clear that the would-be attackers were not rogue agents. All those involved reported directly to General Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s top military officer, who was tasked with keeping the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, from knowing about the operation,” the intelligence report read.
The European intelligence report was shared on the Discord chat platform, allegedly by Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira. The Washington Post obtained a copy from one of Teixeira’s online friends.
(ian)
