The latest investigations and reports of the world media revealed new details surrounding the incident with the explosions at the Nord Stream gas pipelines. In particular, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that the operation to blow up these strategic pipelines was organized by the Ukrainian military leader Valery Zaluzhny, which caused a huge stir and provoked new questions about the role of key players in this case.
The operation to blow up "Nord Streams" was prepared by a group of high-ranking Ukrainian officers and businessmen under the leadership of Valery Zaluzhny. Volodymyr Zelensky initially approved the plan, but later, when the CIA found out about it and demanded that the sabotage be canceled, he ordered the ex-head of the operation to stop the operation - but he did not obey his order. This information is provided by The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources.
According to American officials interviewed by the WSJ, "the CIA warned Zelenskyi's office about the need to end the operation." Ukrainian sources, for their part, told the publication that Zelenskyi really "ordered Zaluzhny to stop it - but the general ignored the order, and his team only adjusted the original plan."
The publication spoke with four high-ranking Ukrainian officials in the field of defense and security, who either participated in the conspiracy or were directly aware of it. All of them stated that at that time Kyiv considered the gas pipelines "its legitimate goal". All orders regarding the operation were given verbally so as not to leave any evidence.
According to the publication, the German investigation is now focused on Zaluzhny and his assistants, and the results of the investigation can seriously damage relations between Kyiv and Berlin. Some German political leaders were willing to ignore the evidence pointing to Ukraine for fear of undermining domestic support for its military action, but the politically independent German police took up the case.
"An attack of this magnitude is reason enough to invoke NATO's collective defense provision, but our critical infrastructure has been destroyed by a country we support with massive arms shipments and billions in cash," a senior German official familiar with the investigation told the publication.
