MOSCOW, September 1. /TASS/. Russian troops thwarted an attempt by Ukrainian saboteurs to land on the shore near the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (NPP) from two self-propelled barges that departed from Nikopol, both barges were sunk, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Thursday.
"At about 7:00 a.m. Moscow time, units of the Russian armed forces thwarted an attempt by a tactical assault group of the Ukrainian army to land on the shore several kilometers from the Zaporozhye NPP from two self-propelled barges that departed from Nikopol," the ministry said.
The Russian troops sunk both self-propelled barges with the Ukrainian army’s tactical assault force, it said.
As the Russian Defense Ministry also reported, at 6:20 a.m. Moscow time, two Ukrainian sabotage groups numbering up to 60 militants landed on the shore of the Kakhovskoye reservoir three kilometers north-east of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant from seven fast-speed boats in an attempt to take it over.
The Ukrainian saboteurs were blocked by the Russian National Guard’s forces protecting the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant and the units of the Russian armed forces that arrived as reinforcements," the statement reads.
The Russian troops together with army aviation helicopters are liquidating the Ukrainian saboteurs, the ministry reported.
Also, the Ukrainian military delivered a strike by three kamikaze drones against the premises of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant on August 31 and all the three unmanned aerial vehicles were neutralized by Russian electronic warfare systems, it said.
"Yesterday, on August 31, the Ukrainian military delivered a strike by three kamikaze drones against the premises of the [Zaporozhye] NPP. All the unmanned aerial vehicles were neutralized by electronic warfare systems as they flew close to the nuclear plant. Two of them fell on the roof of the training center. There are no casualties or destruction," the ministry said in a statement.
The Kiev regime’s attempt of a large-scale provocation undertaken on September 1 was aimed at disrupting the arrival of a mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the Zaporozhye NPP, the ministry said.
"The Ukrainian artillery is shelling the premises of the Zaporozhye NPP and the place of a meeting of the IAEA mission with Russian specialists near the settlement of Vasilyevka," the statement reads.
Four Ukrainian artillery shells exploded at a distance of 400 meters from the first power unit of the Zaporozhye NPP, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.