so Ukraine was responsible for this act of war on Europe?

If what the article says is true, then Ukrainian citizens working outside the chain of command committed a criminal act on the EEZ of two European countries. Nothing more, nothing less.

On top of that, military operatives going against the wishes of their commander-in-chief and hiding their actions from him wouldn't be an act of war, it would be an act of treason (against Ukraine in this case).

This is the best summary I could come up with:

A senior Ukrainian military officer with deep ties to the country’s intelligence services played a central role in the bombing of the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines last year, according to officials in Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe, as well as other people knowledgeable about the details of the covert operation.

The officer’s role provides the most direct evidence to date tying Ukraine’s military and security leadership to a controversial act of sabotage that has spawned multiple criminal investigations and that U.S. and Western officials have called a dangerous attack on Europe’s energy infrastructure.

While Gazprom, the Russian state-owned gas conglomerate, owns 51 percent of Nord Stream, Western energy companies, including from Germany, France and the Netherlands, are partners and invested billions in the project.

“All speculations about my involvement in the attack on Nord Stream are being spread by Russian propaganda without any basis,” Chervinsky said in a written statement to The Washington Post and Der Spiegel, which conducted a joint investigation of his role.

Authorities allege that Chervinsky, who was arrested in April, acted without permission and that the operation gave away the coordinates of a Ukrainian airfield, prompting a Russian rocket attack that killed a soldier and injured 17 others.

Nearly a month before the explosions, Gazprom stopped flows on Nord Stream 1, hours after the Group of Seven industrialized nations announced a forthcoming price cap on Russian oil, a move intended to put a dent in the Kremlin’s treasury.

The original article contains 1,823 words, the summary contains 243 words. Saved 87%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

“The Hunt for the Nord Stream Bombers” from Intercepted but The Intercept covers this. https://overcast.fm/+2EOppdkIw