🔄 Click here to see the most recent posts
4 posts
7 mins ago
Fourth leak on the Nord Stream, "strong indication" of sabotage, says Germany's ambassador to the UK
By George Engels
Unused tubes from the Baltic Nord Stream 2 pipeline are stored in the port of Mukran, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany, on September 27.
(Photo: Stefan Sauer/picture alliance/Getty Images)
Germany's ambassador to the UK said on Thursday that a fourth leak had been discovered in the Nord Stream pipelines connecting Russia with Germany and that there was a "very strong indication" that it was acts of sabotage.
"It hasn't happened just like that. We think there is a very, very strong indication that they were acts of sabotage," Miguel Berger, Germany's ambassador to the UK, told BBC Radio 4 on Thursday.
"We have two gas leaks in the Danish exclusive economic zones and two in the Swedish ones," Berger added.
CNN contacted the Swedish coastguard but did not immediately hear back.
Berger said Sweden and Denmark would lead the investigation into the leaks, but results would likely take up to 10 days because gas continues to leak from pipes.
"Currently, it's too dangerous to investigate," Berger said.
Berger said that, in Germany's view, "everything indicated" that the leaks were not due to natural causes and that a non-state actor could not have caused this damage.
He did not blame Russia for the leaks, but said it was too early to rule anything out.
8 mins ago
One child and at least two other people killed and five injured in Russian missile strikes in Dnipro
By Olga Voitovych
At least three people were killed — including a child — in missile strikes on the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro early Thursday, according to the head of the regional military administration, Valentyn Reznichenko.
"The Russians attacked Dnipro with missiles at night. They hit residential areas. So far it is known that there are three dead, including a child... There are five more injured, including a 12-year-old girl. Rescuers took her out of the destroyed house, where he was sleeping when a Russian missile fell," Reznichenko said.
The attacks damaged "60 houses and several high-rise buildings", leaving a handful of residences "completely destroyed", it added.
CNN cannot independently verify the claims.
11 mins ago
European Security Officials Observed Russian Navy Vessels Near Nord Stream Pipeline Leaks
Gas bubbles from the leaking Nord Stream 2 reach the surface of the Baltic Sea in the area near Bornholm, Denmark, on September 27.
(Danish Defense Command/Reuters)
European security officials on Monday and Tuesday observed Russian navy ships in the vicinity of leaking Nord Stream gas pipelines, likely caused by underwater explosions, according to Western intelligence officials and another source.
It's unclear if the ships had anything to do with those explosions, these sources and others said, but it's one of many factors investigators will look into.
Russian submarines were also seen not far from those areas last week, one of the intelligence officials said.
Three US officials said the United States still does not have a full explanation for what happened, days after the explosions that triggered three separate and simultaneous leaks from the two pipelines on Monday.
Russian ships routinely operate in the area, according to a Danish military official, who stressed that the presence of the ships does not necessarily indicate that Russia caused the damage.
Mysterious leaks affect Russian Nord Stream gas pipelines: was there sabotage? Who would benefit?
This is what we know
"We see them every week," this person said.
"Russian activities in the Baltic Sea have increased in recent years. They often test our conscience, both at sea and in the air."
However, the sightings continue to cast suspicion on Russia, which is the country that has drawn the most attention from European and US authorities as the only actor in the region believed to have both the ability and the motivation to deliberately harm the pipelines.
US officials declined to comment on the information about the vessels on Wednesday.
The prime ministers of both Denmark and Sweden said Tuesday that the leaks were likely the result of deliberate actions, not accidents, and Sweden's security service said in a statement Wednesday that it cannot be ruled out "that a foreign power be behind".
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan also called the leaks "apparent sabotage" in a tweet on Tuesday night.
But top Western officials have so far refrained from attributing the attack to Russia or any other nation.
The Kremlin publicly denied attacking the pipelines.
A spokesman called the accusation "predictably stupid and absurd."
CNN has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment on the ships' presence.
14 mins ago
Russia is prime suspect in investigation into Nord Stream leaks: US officials
Denmark and Sweden are investigating leaks in the Nord Stream gas pipelines, but an inspection of the site has not yet been carried out and details about the exact cause of the explosions remain scant.
A European official said an assessment by the Danish government is under way and the investigation could take up to two weeks to properly start because pressure in the pipes makes it difficult to get close to the leak site.
However, another source said the investigation could start as early as Sunday.
The Danish government is leading the investigation and has established a five-nautical-mile exclusion zone and a one-kilometre no-fly zone, according to European sources familiar with the matter.
US officials have been much more circumspect than their European counterparts in drawing conclusions about the leaks.
But both a senior US official and a US military official said Russia remains the prime suspect -- assuming the European assessment of deliberate sabotage is confirmed -- because there are no other plausible suspects with the ability and willingness to carry out the attack. operation.
"It is hard to imagine any other actor in the region with the capacity and interest to carry out such an operation," a Danish military official said.
Russia has called for a UN Security Council meeting on the damaged pipeline this week, which the senior US official says is also suspicious.
Normally, the official said, Russia is not organized enough to act so quickly, suggesting the move was planned in advance.
If Russia deliberately caused the explosions, it would be effectively sabotaging its own pipelines: Russian state-owned company Gazprom is the majority shareholder in Nord Stream 1 and the sole owner of Nord Stream 2.
But officials familiar with the latest intelligence say Moscow would likely see such a move as worthwhile if it helped raise Europe's costs of supporting Ukraine.
US and Western intelligence services believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin is betting that as electricity costs rise and winter approaches, European public opinion could turn against the Western strategy of economically isolate Russia.
Sabotaging pipelines could "show what Russia is capable of," a US official said.
CNN's Oren Liebermann and Alex Marquardt contributed to this article.
war in ukraine
