Ukraine was invaded by the Russian armed forces on 24 February 2022 with the Russian 22nd Army Corps advancing north from Crimea towards the city of Zaporizhzhia, which holds a strategic position along the Dnieper River in Central Ukraine, and is the administrative centre of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

[8][9][10][11] Around 5am on 16 March the Zaporizhzhia-2 railway station (Запоріжжя II [uk]) was targeted by a Russian rocket attack, significantly damaging the tracks and overhead lines, as well as blowing out the building's windows.

[12] According to governor Oleksandr Starukh, this was the first time a civilian target had been attacked in the city of Zaporizhzhia, where thousands of refugees from Mariupol were taking shelter.

These explosions had been the result of the Zaporizhzhia air defense forces successfully shooting down three Russian cruise missiles, preventing any potential ground casualties and/or injuries.

At that time, a passenger train serving the line between Zaporizhzhia and Lviv was traveling on the tracks of the bridge and was caught in the blast.

At 11pm on 12 May, a Russian cruise missile hit the island of Khortytsia, causing a small fire at the impact site.

A high-voltage power line transformer was damaged in the explosion, resulting in the automatic shutdown of reactor number 3 and the start-up of its emergency generators.

[citation needed] During the night of 19 September, Zaporizhzhia was hit by eight Russian rockets in its industrial and residential areas.

The regional center was hit an additional two times while other infrastructure and residential houses were damaged, two of the projectiles landed in a field on the outskirts of the city.

[27] Further shelling on the morning of 24 September saw five projectiles hit the city, causing damage to residential buildings as well as injuring 9 civilians while killing one.

Several residential buildings were destroyed and fires broke out due to the attack, killing 17 civilians and injuring 12 more.

[33][34][35] Zaporizhzhia was attacked once more during the night of 7 October, but this time by Iranian Shahed-136 kamikaze drones used by the Russian forces.

[36][37][38][39] That same day around 10am, another Russian attack struck the city with one of the rockets landing in the courtyard of a high-rise building.

[42][43] Russian forces continuously targeted Zaporizhzhia with about 19 S-300 missiles and four Shahed-136 kamikaze drones during the nights from 11 to 15 October.

[48][49][50] Two days later on 21 October at around 8.30am, another six Russian S-300 missiles targeted the city, damaging more residential buildings as well as a school.

One of the missiles fell in a residential quarter, damaging private residences as well as two cars, and causing a fire.

[citation needed] On 18 October Russian missile attack partially destroyed a residential building in Zaporizhzhia.