German prosecutors announced Wednesday that Croatian authorities have arrested a second Ukrainian suspect allegedly involved in the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines.

The arrest brings investigators closer to unravelling one of the most high-profile energy infrastructure attacks in modern history.

Germany’s federal prosecutors’ office identified the suspect only as Vladimir Z., in accordance with local privacy laws. Croatian police detained him on Wednesday morning at a tourist facility in the coastal city of Pula following a European arrest warrant issued by a court in Karlsruhe.

Prosecutors allege that Vladimir Z., a trained scuba diver, was part of a specialized group that planted explosive charges along the seabed off the Danish island of Bornholm in September 2022.

The powerful underwater detonations severely damaged three of the four conduits comprising Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, twin multi-billion-dollar pipelines constructed to carry Russian natural gas directly to Germany under the Baltic Sea.

Investigators claim the cell operated under the command of Serhii K., a former Ukrainian military officer charged by German authorities in July with orchestrating the operation.

Serhii K., who was arrested in Italy in August 2025 and extradited to Germany in November, has denied any involvement. Officials in Kyiv have stated they lack sufficient information to address the specific allegations made by German prosecutors.

German courts asserted jurisdiction over the international case because the pipelines make landfall in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

Prosecutors maintain that the primary objective of the attack was to permanently sever Russian natural gas exports to Europe, thereby depriving Moscow of critical energy revenues used to fund its military campaign in Ukraine.

The 2022 explosions destroyed Nord Stream 1, which was once Europe’s primary corridor for Russian gas, and disabled the newly constructed Nord Stream 2 before it could begin commercial operations.

 Western governments and Moscow have both categorized the blasts as deliberate sabotage. Croatian judicial authorities will oversee the legal process to extradite Vladimir Z. to Germany to face formal federal charges.