According to the American newspaper, which relies mainly on Ukrainian military sources, the explosive attack was carried out under the supervision of the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army at the time, Valery Zaluzhny. And this, despite a change of heart along the way from Volodymyr Zelensky, who had called for the project to be stopped.
$300,000
These press reports come a day after revelations that the German judicial investigation into the sabotage is moving to Ukraine, with an arrest warrant recently issued for a professional diver from that country. The idea of sabotage emerged in May 2022 during a meeting of Ukrainian officers, senior officers and business leaders, three months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the American newspaper writes.
According to the “Wall Street Journal”, a total of six people were directly involved in this operation at a cost of about $300,000, all financed by private money. “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky initially approved the plan, according to one officer who attended and three people who knew him,” the US paper said. “But then when the CIA found out about it and demanded that it be stopped, they ordered it to be stopped,” he continues.
However, Valery Zaluzhny, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army at the time, ignored this order and his team modified the original plan, the newspaper adds. Contacted by the Wall Street Journal, Valery Zalouzhny, who has since been appointed Ukraine's ambassador to London, said in a written exchange that he had no knowledge of such an operation and called any statement to the contrary “provocative.”
“Torpedo”
After the Russian gas pipeline sabotage in September 2022, Volodymyr Zelensky demanded an explanation from Valeri Zalouzhny, according to the newspaper, citing three people familiar with the exchange. The latter replied that it was too late, saying that he could no longer communicate with the sabotage team because any contact could have jeopardized the operation.