Russia Thwarts Ukrainian Military Attacks of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant to Prevent IAEA Inspection...

Ukraine_Zaporizhzhia_Nuclear_Power_Plant

by Bernhard at Moon of Alabama

Over night the Ukrainian military, from positions in Vyshetarasovka, Nikopol and Marganets, again shelled the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant on the south side of the Kakhovka Dnieper reservoir.

biggerThis was fallowed by an early morning attempt by Ukrainian forces to land a sabotage group near the village north east of the ZNPP. Some seven boats, two self-motorized barges and some 60 soldiers were involved in the suicidal mission.

biggerThe paramilitary Russian National Guard (Rosgvardiya) which protects the plant immediately detected the insertion and attacked it. The Russian army send Ka-52 attack helicopters to help destroy the Ukrainian force. The two barges were sunk.

As the little town where the troops landed is outside of power plant there is no danger to the reactors.

An inspector team under IAEA director Rafael Grossi is on its way to the ZNPP.

U.N. nuclear safety officials who are heading to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia power plant are facing intense shelling but will continue to travel to the facility, the team’s leader said Thursday.”There has been increased military activity, including this morning — until very recently, a few minutes ago,” Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Thursday morning. But he added defiantly: “Having come so far, we are not stopping. We are moving now,” despite the fact “the risks are very very high.”

Grossi concluded his press statement by saying: “Wish us luck, we are moving now … It’s very important that the world knows what’s happening here.”

The IAEA inspectors are expected to cross the frontline between Ukrainian-held land and Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory and reach the nuclear power, Europe’s largest, later on Thursday. The U.N. inspectors will continue to advance, despite the fact intense shelling has been reported by both Ukraine and Russia around Zaporizhzhia, amid fears the risks of a nuclear accident are increasing.

Update 1:

Dima of the Military Summary Channel thinks (vid) that the Ukrainian saboteur group was tasked with laying low until the inspectors arrive. It would then take over the plant and prevent the IAEA inspectors from leaving. They would then be hostages at the plant which would guarantee that the Russian side would be unable to retake the site.

If that really was the plan it was one of the craziest I ever heard off. Then again – the Ukrainian Zelenski regime is crazy and he and his advisors are former movie producers who are trained to come up with such plots.

End-Update 1:..