The Russian army claimed Ukrainian Special Forces attempted to cross the Kayhovskoye reservoir in an attempt to seize control of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear plant on September 1 as inspectors from the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency were en route to visit the facility. The IAEA seeks to establish a permanent presence at the facility to monitor its safe operation.

The Russians claim they had advanced warning of the attack and were ready to repel it with helicopter gunships, artillery, and troops.

Here is the Russian version of the attack as related by a Russian army spokesman;

The morning of September 1 was marked by a daring and very adventurous attempt by the militants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to land troops in the area of ​​the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to capture the plant. One detachment crossed from the opposite bank of the Kakhovka reservoir in seven motor boats, and the other went on two civilian barges. They were already waiting for them on the shore controlled by the Russian military – the landing group, which planned to fire at the posts of the Russian Guard on the outskirts of the station, was attacked, pressed to the water, and destroyed with the assistance of army aviation. The barges that were moving in the meantime were quickly liquidated and flooded. Nevertheless, the operation carried out by the Russian military made it possible to receive the IAEA mission at the station in the regular mode; during the visit, they saw “key things.”

According to a new report in Russian State media, RIA-Novosti local officials in Zaporizhzhia claimed the commandos attempted to infiltrate the plant as journalists and the IAEA team arrived to assess the nuclear power plant. They claim the commandos came across in 7 boats and two large barges.

We smell a rat, several of them.

First, Ukrainian Special Forces have shown themselves to be very competent in targeting Russian tanks, troops, and installations since the war began (no doubt partly because of training by US Special Forces advisors for some eight years). They would know better than to attempt to assault across nearly 5 miles of open water in broad daylight. It’s suicide.

Second, Commandos just walking out of the woods to mingle among reporters who were no doubt vetted, searched, and issued credentials for a visit requires the utter suspension of disbelief to imagine it to be true. Videos of the arrival of the IAEA inspectors were done by motorcade with an armed escort into the secure facility, which was also guarded by Russian troops.

Third, the plant sits on a more than 104-hectare site, about half of one square mile. Therefore, 60 commandos would not be enough to take the facility and hold it, Especially when there are thousands of Russian troops in the immediate vicinity.

A video on Twitter purports to be the aftermath of the attempted infiltration of the powerplant, but rather than show Ukrainian disguised as civilians, it shows soldiers in combat kits. Some things stood out to us immediately in the video.

The bodies are posed rather dramatically for the video, and none show any signs of battlefield injuries. None of their faces are visible in the video. Where skin is visible, it does not appear to be pale or gray as bodies often do. Instead, the skin is pink as if red blood continues to flow through their veins. The person taking the videos does not touch the bodies in any way.

A couple of weapons appear to be brand new, out-of-the-box HK-416s. We are unaware of Ukraine Special Forces units being armed with these rifles. The real high-speed guys in USF use tricked-out Sig MCXs with optics, lights, and suppressors. Also common among their Special Forces troops are the AK-74, AKS-74U, the Fort-221 and 224 models, and Zbroyar Z-10. Also depicted were passports, IDs, cell phones, and, most curiously, numerous pristine US $100 bills. It seems odd that Ukrainian SF guys on such a high-risk mission would carry their passports, phones, and US currency in large bills.

Holding the passports, the Russians have not published the names and photos of any commandos they claim to have killed. Given the political ramifications of this assault, one would think the Russians would be putting out all the details they had, but thearen’t’t. They are being pretty tight-lipped about this one. The Ukraine government has also kept pretty quiet about it too.

 

The screenshots were taken from the video below.

https://twitter.com/GovWard78/status/1565777560864268289?s=20&t=jIYdEOIrSO_pqqkxQ4GzvA

Of course, the UN dutifully thanked the Russian government for protecting them from the raid.

At a UN press conference, a Russian journalist asked about reports that a Ukrainian” “saboteur” was killed by the Russian army that morning near Zaporizhzhia; the UN spokesman responded, “We are glad that the Russian Federation did what it did to keep our inspectors safe.”

We are naturally skeptical of most claims from the Russian government about the war, and we think we also have good reason to be suspicious here. It just doesn’t add up and looks like another clumsy Russian attempt to create a propaganda coup in front of the cameras.

As this is being written, Russian accounts on their Telegram social media channel claim that Ukraine has launched another broad daylight assault on the power plant, this time with 15 boats.

Stay tuned.

Editors note: We had contacted Ukraine’s Armed Forces for a confirmation or denial of the attack. The spokesman went back to us after the publication of this article, and he offered the official denial saying,” Ukrainian forces do not attack critical infrastructure, especially Nuclear PP (power plants), as it can have a serious impact on the eco situation not only in Ukraine but in many other Eu states. We do remember Chernobyl!”