U.S. officials say they reviewed new intelligence that suggests a pro-Ukrainian group was behind the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines in 2022, according to The New York Times.
The newspaper said the intelligence is a step toward determining who is responsible for the sabotage. U.S. officials said there was no evidence that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy or any of his top lieutenants were involved. In addition, there was no evidence pointing to Ukrainian officials.
The attack sparked speculation about who was responsible. Fingers were pointed at a list of nations including Russia, Ukraine, Great Britain, and the United States.
AFP reported in February that the White House rejected a report by veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh that the U.S. was behind the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines.
In a self-published report, Hersh wrote that U.S. Navy divers helped by Norway had planted explosives on the pipelines running under the Baltic Sea between Russia and Germany in June and detonated them three months later.
White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson described the Hersh report, published on his page on the Substack web service, as "complete fiction."
The Times noted that Ukraine and some of its allies have been seen by some officials as having the most logical motive to sabotage the pipelines. They have opposed the projects for years, calling them a national security threat.
U.S. officials concede there is still much to learn about the saboteurs. The new intelligence suggests they are opposed to Russia's President Vladimir Putin. However, it does not name the perpetrators or the group. Officials would not reveal how the intelligence was gathered.
They said the new intelligence leaves open the possibility that the operation might have been conducted off the books by a proxy force with connections to the Ukrainian government or its security services.
Officials said they believed the saboteurs were most likely Ukrainian or Russian nationals, or some combination. U.S. officials said no American or British nationals were involved.
Meanwhile, U.S. officials briefed on the latest information are split on how much credibility to give it, the Times reported.
The CIA declined to comment on the Times report. The National Security Council referred questions about the pipelines to European authorities.