Germany’s top prosecutor has indicted a Ukrainian national over the 2022 explosions that crippled the Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea, moving one of Europe’s most politically sensitive sabotage cases closer to trial.

The indictment against the man, identified under German privacy rules only as Serhii K., was served on Wednesday, according to Berlin law firm Menaker, which represents him. The firm provided no details on the specific charges.

German media outlets reported that prosecutors accuse Serhii K. of attacking civilian energy infrastructure, causing an explosion, and destroying structures. The federal prosecutor's office declined to comment.

According to court records, prosecutors allege that Serhii K., an officer in a Ukrainian special forces unit at the time, helped coordinate a team that used a sailing yacht, the Andromeda, to place explosive devices on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines near Denmark’s Bornholm island in September 2022.

Investigators suspect the Andromeda’s crew consisted of a coordinator, a skipper, four deep-sea divers, and an explosives specialist. They allege Serhii K. acted as the on-board coordinator and team leader, rather than a diver or bomb expert. He has denied involvement.

The blasts, which Western countries and Russia have both labelled as sabotage, knocked out key routes for Russian gas to Europe months after Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, deepening a severe energy crisis that hit Germany particularly hard.

German courts are treating the case as falling under national jurisdiction because the damaged pipelines end at Lubmin in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Authorities say their loss directly impacted Germany’s energy security and internal safety.

The suspect was arrested in Italy last August and transferred to Germany in November, where a judge activated a German arrest warrant.