ENERGODAR, September 3. /TASS/. An attempt by the Kiev government troops to send an assault force towards Energodar has failed, a local administration official has told TASS.

"Several dozens of high-speed boats carrying armed people were on their way, but the attempt was thwarted," said Vladimir Rogov, a member of the main council of the Zaporozhye Region’s military-civilian administration.

According to the official, the movement of boats with armed people was detected around midnight.

This is not the first attempt of the Kiev government troops to stage an assault on the plant. As the city of Energodar, housing Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, was preparing to meet a mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), two Ukrainian sabotage groups comprising up to 60 people in total attempted to cross the Kakhovka water reservoir and disembark around three kilometers away from the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). The attack, which occurred at around 06:20 Moscow time, was thwarted by members of the Russian National Guard and army aviation.

Later in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that at around 07:00 Moscow time Ukrainian troops made another attempt to disembark near the NPP, in the vicinity of the Vodyanoe village. The landing was thwarted by Russia’s Armed Forces, when they sunk two self-propelled barges carrying saboteurs that departed from Nikopol.