KYIV – U.S. President Joe Biden has defended the lifting of sanctions on the company that controls the Nord Stream 2 (NS2) natural gas pipeline whose completion will effectively eliminate Ukraine as a vital energy transit country and leave it vulnerable to additional Russian aggression.

The terminating point of the Nord Stream Pipeline is located at the energy hub Lubminer Heide near Greifswald, Germany, which covers an area of about 12 hectares, including the receiving terminal of the connecting pipelines OPAL and NEL.