A Ukrainian military officer coordinated last year’s attack on the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline, the Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing anonymous sources in Ukraine and Europe.

No one has taken responsibility for the September 2022 blasts, which occurred off the Danish island of Bornholm and ruptured three out of four lines of the system that delivers Russian gas to Europe.

Washington and NATO called it an act of sabotage, while Moscow said it was an act of international terrorism.

Roman Chervinsky, a former intelligence official who served in the Ukrainian military’s special forces, managed a six-person team but did not plan the attack, the Post reported. He denied involvement.

A spokesperson for Ukraine’s military told Reuters he had “no information” about the claim. The Ukrainian foreign ministry and Kyiv’s domestic security service, the SBU, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The newspaper also reported that President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has denied Kyiv’s role in the blasts, had been unaware of the operation. Zelensky last week replaced the head of Ukraine’s special operations forces.

Germany, Denmark and Sweden have launched investigations into the Nord Stream explosions, which sent plumes of methane into the atmosphere in a leak that lasted several days.

Chervinsky is currently under arrest for exceeding authority after a 2022 attempt to convince a Russian pilot to defect to Ukraine, which investigators say led to a deadly Russian attack on a Ukrainian air base.

An outspoken critic of Zelensky’s administration, Chervinsky has said the case against him is politically motivated and that he was following orders in that operation.

His commanding officer at the time, Maj. Gen. Viktor Hanushchak, told Ukrainian media earlier this year that senior military leadership had signed off on the plot to lure the Russian pilot.

The Post and Germany’s Der Spiegel newspaper collaborated on reporting and wrote separate stories that they agreed to publish at the same time.

Israel’s defence ministry on Sunday announced a 317 million euro ($340 million) deal for the sale of its David’s Sling air defence system to new NATO member Finland.

Calling it a “historic agreement,” the ministry said the system jointly developed by Israeli and US companies can intercept ballistic and cruise missiles, aircraft and drones.

The announcement comes after Israel in September signed a $3.5-billion deal — the biggest ever for the small country’s outsized arms sector — to sell its Arrow 3 hypersonic missile system to Germany.

The long-range Arrow 3 system was also jointly developed and produced by companies in Israel and its top ally the United States, and the sale had to be approved by Washington before it could be finalised.

That deal came as Germany has led a push to bolster NATO’s air defences in Europe after the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year, urging allies to buy deterrence systems together.

Newly minted NATO member Finland was also quick to announce plans to buy an Israeli defence system against aircraft, rockets and missiles.

Analysts say the ongoing war in Ukraine is likely to further increase European demand for Israeli arms.

India handed Netherlands 160-run mauling to finish the league stage at the ODI World Cup unbeaten with nine wins in as many matches.