Zaporizhzhia Authorities Believe Kiev Plotted To Take IAEA Delegation Hostage

SIMFEROPOL (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th September, 2022) The Kiev authorities intended to take the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission hostage, Vladimir Rogov, a member of the main council of the Zaporizhzhia regional military-civil administration, told Sputnik, commenting on the two recent incidents involving Ukrainian sabotage groups that tried to attack the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP).

According to Rogov, Ukrainian troops have intensified attacks on the ZNPP ahead of the results of the IAEA inspection of the plant. On Friday, Rogov said that at least two dozen high-speed boats with a large number of armed people moved down the Dnieper river from the area of the Kakhovka reservoir, not far from the ZNPP.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, on Thursday, 60 Ukrainian paratroopers attempted to seize the ZNPP, just before the arrival of the IAEA delegation, headed by Director General Rafael Grossi. The majority of the Ukrainian soldiers, who arrived in seven boats and landed on the coast of the Kakhovka reservoir, three kilometers (1.

8 miles) northeast of the ZNPP, were neutralized.

"In the event of a successful capture of the nuclear power plant, the goal of the Ukrainian saboteurs was to take hostage the IAEA delegation and the employees of the nuclear power plant in order to use them as a human shield to establish control over the nuclear power plant, which would allow blackmailing Russia and the whole world with a nuclear threat," Rogov told Sputnik on Saturday, commenting on the two sabotage attempts.

According to Rogov, the IAEA mission will stay at the ZNPP until at least September 5. The delegation arrived at the nuclear plant on Thursday, walked around the facility and inspected the sections of the plant that had been damaged by the recent Ukrainian shelling. Grossi is expected to present a report to the agency's board of governors on the Zaporizhzhia NPP early next week.