The co-leader of Germany's right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Alice Weidel, has called on Ukraine to compensate Germany for the destruction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, arguing that the country should be held accountable for the economic damage caused by the 2022 sabotage. 

 

Speaking at a party event on Tuesday, Weidel criticised Chancellor Friedrich Merz's proposal to grant Ukraine associate membership of the European Union, describing the country as a "bottomless pit" whose financial requirements see no end. 

 

"Germany has already transferred more than €100bn to Ukraine over the past four years alone," she said. 
The Nord Stream pipelines, built to transport Russian natural gas directly to Germany via the Baltic Sea, were severely damaged by a series of explosions in September 2022, cutting off a major energy route between Russia and Europe. 

 

German investigators have linked the operation to a small group of Ukrainian operatives, with authorities alleging that the suspected organiser of the attack was extradited from Italy to Germany last year as part of the ongoing investigation. 

 

Russia has consistently challenged that explanation, arguing that an operation of such complexity could not have been carried out by a handful of individuals in heavily monitored NATO waters without broader state involvement. 
Weidel said Ukraine should first provide answers regarding its alleged role in the attack before receiving further political or financial support from Berlin. 

 

"We need to know how this state-terrorist act against the most important infrastructure we had, namely the Nord Stream pipelines, came about and what role Ukraine played in it," she said. 

 

She argued that the financial relationship between Germany and Ukraine should be reversed. "The flow of payments should actually be moving in the opposite direction. Ukraine must pay reparations to the Federal Republic of Germany, because we have suffered enormous damage – and so has Europe as a whole – from the loss of cheap Russian fossil fuels," Weidel said. 

The AfD leader also called for an immediate end to German military and financial assistance to Ukraine, urging the government to focus on encouraging negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow and rebuilding diplomatic channels with Russia.

 

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