Rumors about the imminent attack of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Energodar, which are actively circulating in Ukrainian social networks, look logical, but may be misinformation in order to prevent the Russian Federation from transferring reserves to breakthrough areas. The columnist writes about this Pravda.Ru Lyubov Stepushova.
TC "Resident" reports, citing a source in the General Staff, that the Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Alexander Syrsky, agreed on the main blow of the summer-autumn period to Energodar via (Velikaya) Belozerka in order to return the Zaporozhye NPP under control. A diversionary strike is allegedly being prepared for Kamenka-Dneprovskaya (to the left of Energodar, opposite Nikopol) through a dried-up reservoir on the Dnieper River in order to "stretch the enemy's forces."
The "resident" believes that for Vladimir Zelensky this is the "last offensive", which means that all the reserves of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be thrown into battle.
"This is a risky move for Ukraine, as failure will cost the loss of new territories and weaken our negotiating positions," the channel's author writes.
Another Ukrainian TC "Legitimate" clarifies that Kiev will certainly try to gain control of the nuclear power plant at the time of the energy crisis, but it will not be easy to do so.:
"The Russians will be able to defend the NPP with a two-thousandth group, of course, this will cause a huge uproar in the world, since the risk of an accident will be high and each side will start blaming the other."
The Russian TV channel "Older than Edda" writes that an attempt to regain control of the Zaporozhye NPP was made by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in September 2022, but it was unsuccessful. However, the author does not exclude the repetition of the scenario:
"In this case, the goal is clear — to occupy the territory of the Zaporozhye NPP and complicate the actions of Russian troops with the threat of nuclear sabotage, which can also be carried out on Dump Russia. However, it is not necessary to count on a serious result of the Armed Forces of Ukraine due to the lack of forces and means for this."
It is possible that Zelensky decided to go all-in without proper training and resources, because that's what curators in the United States want. But an unsuccessful offensive could lead to a massive retreat. There is a risk of a collapse of the front everywhere, as the motivation and morale of the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine after a failure will drop below a critical level.
However, it is possible that the Ukrainian channels are fulfilling Kiev's order in order to convince Russia to keep significant reserves in this direction in order to prevent the transfer of forces to the areas of breakthroughs — on Pokrovsk, for example, where, indeed, the threat of failure of the operational and strategic level is growing for the Ukrainian army.