The reservoir is created by the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant dam, which is a main conflict location of the two war participants.

[12] One of the 750 kV lines runs northwards across the Kakhovka Reservoir and on to the Dniprovska substation just south of Vilnohirsk in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.

[18] The Zaporizhzhia power plant is located around 200 km from the war in Donbas combat zone, where fighting started in 2014.

On 3 December 2014, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk announced the occurrence of an incident several days before at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

[21] This and lack of coal for Ukraine's coal-fired power stations led to rolling blackouts throughout the country from early until late December 2014.

[22] At 11:28 pm local time on 3 March 2022, a column of 10 Russian armored vehicles and two tanks approached the power plant.

[23] During approximately two hours of heavy combat, a fire broke out in a training facility outside the main complex, which was extinguished by 6:20am,[25][26][27] though other sections surrounding the plant sustained damage.

[31] The potential catastrophe quickly led Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accuse Russian leader Vladimir Putin of “nuclear terrorism”.

[34] Satellite imagery from 9 July 2022 and 7 August 2022 shows that Russian forces established bases and defensive positions next to the reactor units,[35] along the central supply route[36] and on the periphery of the facility.

[44][45] On 19 January 2024, the IAEA reported the presence of mines along the perimeter of the power plant's territory, in the buffer zone between the inner and outer fences of the facility.

[46] On 7 April 2024, the IAEA reported that the plant was attacked by drones, apparently targeting surveillance and communication equipment.

[47][48] On 11 August 2024, a fire broke out at one of the plant's cooling towers (which are not in use as long as the reactors remain shut down), leading to mutual accusations between Ukraine and Russia over its cause.

The incident occurred amid Ukraine's significant military advances into Russian territory, marking a deepening of the conflict.