The Wall Street Journal reported in an exclusive Wednesday evening that Ukraine was behind the September 2022 Nord Stream pipeline explosion and that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tried to stop it, but one of his top generals defied him and did it anyway.
The explosion in the Baltic Sea caused the demise of a major Russian export route for natural gas—but it’s been a mystery since who carried out the plan, with theories making the rounds that it was the CIA, the Ukranians, or even the Russians themselves who set the explosives.
The new report is the most detailed accounting yet:
Danish and Swedish investigations closed inconclusively in February this year, and a couple of months later the UN admitted it had "no additional details" on who was behind the attack.
But The Wall Street Journal published the fullest story yet on Wednesday purporting to finally describe what happened.It said a crew of six Ukrainian-backed divers chartered a 50-foot pleasure boat from Germany, sailed it to the Baltic Sea, and planted explosive charges on the pipeline.
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It all started one boozy night:
The Ukrainian operation cost around $300,000, according to people who participated in it. It involved a small rented yacht with a six-member crew, including trained civilian divers. One was a woman, whose presence helped create the illusion they were a group of friends on a pleasure cruise.
“I always laugh when I read media speculation about some huge operation involving secret services, submarines, drones and satellites,” one officer who was involved in the plot said. “The whole thing was born out of a night of heavy boozing and the iron determination of a handful of people who had the guts to risk their lives for their country.”
Zelenskyy was initially on board but then got cold feet.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky initially approved the plan, according to one officer who participated and three people familiar with it. But later, when the CIA learned of it and asked the Ukrainian president to pull the plug, he ordered a halt, those people said.
Zelensky’s commander in chief, Valeriy Zaluzhniy, who was leading the effort, nonetheless forged ahead.
Zaluzhniy, however, responded to the article and denied that he or Ukraine was involved and said that anyone alleging otherwise was guilty of "mere provocation."
This is not the first time investigators have pointed the finger at Ukraine; they have been under a cloud of suspicion since day one.
Investigative reports pointing to Ukrainian responsibility have been emerging for several months, with many details matching the Journal report.
A joint investigation between The Washington Post and Der Spiegel also connected Chervinsky, and Ukraine, to the attack. New York Times reporting last year also said a Ukrainian group was behind the attack.
The Journal's latest report is the first to suggest Zelenskyy had knowledge of the attack.
The report will not make the Germans happy, however; the cost to them for being forced to rely on alternative energy sources is estimated to be $1 million per day.
According to the WSJ at least, this mystery is finally solved.