Kherson authorities admit evacuation capacity short of need after fresh strikes on city power plant
The head of the Kherson Oblast Military Administration, Oleksandr Prokudin, said state and regional capacity is insufficient to evacuate all residents of Ukrainian-controlled Kherson Oblast who may need to leave, particularly after another Russian strike on the Kherson thermal power plant. Authorities are prioritising families with children and low-mobility residents, while social institutions and dormitories across 15 regions are being readied to receive them.
Key points
- Head of Kherson OVA Oleksandr Prokudin said current state and regional capacity is insufficient to resettle all residents who may need evacuation.
- Evacuation is being prioritised for families with children and low-mobility residents; authorities say they cannot simultaneously evacuate and rehouse everyone.
- Russia struck the Kherson thermal power plant with four glide bombs on 27 August, causing critical destruction; Prokudin said earlier that restoring the facility in its current state is impractical.
- The Ministry of Social Policy has identified places for internally displaced people in 15 regions, with about 7,000 free bed spaces in dormitories and social institutions.
- Places with medical supervision for low-mobility residents already exist in Khmelnytskyi, Mykolaiv and Vinnytsia oblasts; seven more regions are preparing capacity totalling more than 2,000 spaces.
- The Kherson OVA has agreed to settle families with children in Hansen (Hansenshtadt) in Kyiv Oblast.
- International partners are ready to provide evacuees with 10,800 UAH per person in financial assistance.
- As of July 2025, Kherson's population was 64,401, of whom more than 65% were people of retirement age.
Why it matters
The admission from Kherson's top regional administrator is a rare, on-the-record acknowledgement that the state's resettlement machinery cannot yet match the scale of displacement that fresh Russian strikes on the city's heating infrastructure are likely to produce. By triaging evacuation toward families with children and people with limited mobility, the authorities are implicitly leaving other groups — including a heavily elderly remaining population — to fend for themselves for now. The loss of the Kherson thermal power plant removes a central reason residents might have stayed for the winter and raises the cost of any further delay.
What happened
Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson Oblast Military Administration, said state and regional capacity is insufficient to resettle all residents of Ukrainian-controlled Kherson Oblast who may need evacuation, particularly after a fresh Russian strike on the Kherson thermal power plant. He said authorities are prioritising families with children and low-mobility residents because they cannot simultaneously evacuate and rehouse everyone. After the shelling, Prokudin called on city residents to leave. The Ministry of Social Policy has identified places for internally displaced people in 15 regions, with about 7,000 free bed spaces in dormitories, communal and social institutions. Places with medical supervision and accompaniment for low-mobility residents already exist in social institutions in Khmelnytskyi, Mykolaiv and Vinnytsia oblasts; seven more regions — Odesa, Chernivtsi, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Poltava, Zakarpattia and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts — are preparing additional capacity totalling more than 2,000 spaces. The Kherson OVA has agreed to settle families with children in the town of Hansen (Hansenshtadt) in Kyiv Oblast, and international partners are ready to provide evacuees with 10,800 UAH per person in financial assistance. The evacuation push follows the 27 August Russian strike on the Kherson TEC with four glide bombs, which caused critical destruction to the facility; Prokudin had earlier said restoring the Kherson TEC in its current state is impractical. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has announced massive strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, and Ukrainian officials have said full physical protection of energy facilities is impossible.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
The reporting is anchored in a Ukrainian regional official's candid admission of a logistics gap, presented as a problem the state is racing to close rather than a failure. The piece foregrounds the human face of the displacement — families with children, low-mobility residents and an elderly majority — and ties the evacuation shortfall directly to repeated Russian strikes on the Kherson thermal power plant and to Putin's declared campaign against Ukrainian energy infrastructure, presenting the displacement as a direct consequence of attacks on civilian infrastructure.
Background
Kherson has come under sustained Russian fire, with strikes on the city's thermal power plant repeatedly damaging heating capacity. On 27 August, Russia hit the Kherson TEC with four glide bombs, causing critical destruction, and Prokudin said earlier in March that restoring the facility in its current state is impractical. Putin has publicly declared a campaign of massive strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, and Ukrainian officials have acknowledged that full physical protection of energy facilities is impossible. As of July 2025, Kherson city's population stood at 64,401, more than 65% of whom were people of retirement age — a demographic profile that makes the evacuation of low-mobility residents particularly urgent. In response, the Ministry of Social Policy has identified IDP capacity in 15 regions, with around 7,000 free bed spaces in dormitories and social institutions. Specialised places with medical supervision for low-mobility residents are already operating in Khmelnytskyi, Mykolaiv and Vinnytsia oblasts, and seven more regions — Odesa, Chernivtsi, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Poltava, Zakarpattia and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts — are preparing further capacity totalling more than 2,000 spaces. Families with children are to be settled in Hansen (Hansenshtadt) in Kyiv Oblast under an agreement with the Kherson OVA, and international partners are ready to provide evacuees with 10,800 UAH per person.