A colonel in the Ukraine Special Operations Forces was reportedly "coordinator" of the controversial bombing of Russia's Nord Stream pipeline, the latest allegation surfacing in the long-winding investigation.
Col. Roman Chervinsky, 48, coordinated the attack to knock out a natural gas pipeline that was helping Russia capitalize on its energy production as it was waging war on Ukraine territory last year, sources told The Washington Post in an exclusive report published Saturday.
"All speculations about my involvement in the attack on Nord Stream are being spread by Russian propaganda without any basis," Chervinsky's lawyers wrote in a written statement to the Post and German publication Der Spiegel.
The allegations include Chervinsky's management of logistics in a six-man special operations action from a rented sailboat, bombing the Nord Stream pipeline in the depths of the Baltic Sea with explosives Sept. 26, 2022, according to the report.
The charges at three locations leaked natural gas from Nord Stream 1 and 2, knocking out all but one natural gas links from Russia to Germany as the war approached winter. The pipeline was providing energy source for millions in Europe.
Senior Ukrainian military officials under Ukrainian Gen. Valery Zaluzhny delivered the orders to Chervinsky's team, sources told the Post.
Chervinsky was reporting to Maj. Gen. Viktor Hanushchak, who was in direct line with Zaluzhny, according to the sources.
Hanushchak no longer serves in the Ukraine Special Operations Forces and had publicly said the operation was approved by Ukraine military leaders. He decline to comment to the Post or Der Spiegel.
Ukrainian government communications officials also did not respond to requests for comment on the Post's exclusive report.
Russia's Nord Stream pipelines were used to skirt Ukrainian natural gas sources, Ukraine has long argued.
Chervinsky, arrested in April, is currently held in a Kyiv jail for having abused his power in attempting to lure a Russian pilot to defect to Ukraine in July 2022.
"I have devoted my entire life to the defense of Ukraine," Chervinsky said in his statement. calling the Russian airplane operation charges "groundless and far-fetched, which I will definitely prove in court."
Chervinsky has also said he "planned and implemented" an operation to kill pro-Russian leaders in Ukraine and "abduct a witness" who has corroborating evidence of Russia's shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which killed 298 passengers over the eastern Donbas in 2014, according to the Post.
"The operation to recruit the Russian pilot involved units of the SBU, the Air Force, and the Special Operations Forces," Chervinsky wrote in a statement to the Post and Der Spiegel. "The operation was approved by the commander in chief Valery Zaluzhny."
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has long denied his country's involvement in the Nord Stream pipeline bombing.
"I am president and I give orders accordingly," Zelenskyy said in June, responding to allegations the CIA has information to the contrary.
"Nothing of the sort has been done by Ukraine. I would never act that way."
Zelenskyy's lack of knowledge was by design, according to the Post report.
"All of those involved in planning and execution reported directly to [chief of defense] Zaluzhny, so Zelenskyy wouldn't have known about it," according to the CIA.
That intelligence is a piece of the leaks by Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira, who was arrested by the FBI earlier this year, the Post reported.
"It is not just one 'mole' [in Zelenskyy's administration]; it is a bunch of people," Chervinsky said, accusing Zelenskyy adviser Andriy Yermak and other Zelenskyy advisers, who he claimed are "afraid of challenging Russia."
The attack on pipelines in a separate incident include charges China might have been involved in another sabotage.
Finnish police on Friday said the investigation into the Baltic connector damage has uncovered evidence which shows the large anchor found on the seabed near the gas pipeline likely belonged to the Chinese NewNew Polar Bear cargo vessel, Reuters reported.
The latest revelations come as Congress is attempting to pass President Joe Biden's request for $105 billion in new funding for Ukraine and Israel war efforts. About 65% of that funding request is ticketed for Ukraine, and fiscal conservatives in Congress are growing weary of further support for Ukraine in its defense against aggression by Russia.
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