US Aware of Ukraine's Plans to Attack the Nord Streams, WP Reports

The Biden administration was informed three months prior to the attacks on the "Nord Streams" by a European ally that Ukrainian military forces were planning an assault on the gas pipelines under the direct supervision of the Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces Valerii Zaluzhnyi. This was reported by The Washington Post (WP), citing Pentagon documents that surfaced in a widespread leak, as reported by DW's Russian service.

According to these documents, the assault on the gas pipeline did not occur within the known timeframe communicated to Washington, yet subsequent explosions happened quite close to the supposed timing. The details of the alleged attack plan were gathered by an intelligence service of one of the European countries and were shared with the CIA a year ago. The latter shared these documents with Germany and other European allies. The intelligence report was based on information from a Ukrainian source, containing several more specific pieces of evidence that could officially connect Kyiv to the attack on the "Nord Stream."

The report states that the operation was to be led by Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the Commander of Ukraine's Armed Forces. It was noted that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was unaware of this, which allowed him to credibly deny Kyiv's involvement in the attack, avoiding potential outrage in the West and threats to Ukraine's support. This was particularly relevant for Germany, which received half of its natural gas from Russia before the war and had long supported the "Nord Stream" project.

According to WP, the operation was planned to be conducted immediately after Western naval exercises in the Baltic Sea that took place in June 2022. At that time, a trusted Ukrainian source reported that six Ukrainian special forces operatives with fake passports were supposed to rent a boat to reach their destination, then dive with special equipment to defuse the pipeline. However, the operation was ultimately "halted" for unclear reasons.

Later, German investigators found that a similar plan was executed, but in September. At the same time, according to WP's publication, there were differences; the attack was intended solely on the "Nord Stream" and not on "Nord Stream 2." Ukrainian officials, who have repeatedly denied Kyiv's involvement in the explosions of the gas pipelines, did not respond to the media's requests. The White House and the CIA also declined to comment. It is noteworthy that at the end of September 2022, three of the four lines of the "Nord Stream" and "Nord Stream 2" gas pipelines were damaged.