After the attacks on the thermal power plant, Kherson residents were urged to leave the city for the winter

Residents of Kherson who are not yet ready to leave the city permanently have been urged to evacuate to safer regions of Ukraine, at least for the fall and winter.

Oleksandr Tolokonnikov, deputy head of the Kherson Regional State Administration, announced this during a televised marathon.

According to him, residents who do not plan to leave Kherson permanently are advised to wait out the fall and winter in safer regions where heating and electricity can be provided.

Tolokonnikov noted that the authorities are continuing to work on decentralizing the heating system in Kherson. However, due to constant Russian shelling, carrying out this work is significantly more difficult.

It’s much easier to do this, for example, somewhere in the Ivano-Frankivsk region than when you’re under constant shelling and under constant surveillance by the Russians, who—from the left bank—use drones to monitor all our preparations, scout out where our facilities are located, and can start attacking at any moment,” the official noted.

He added that even the launch of a few “Gerbera” drones could nullify all the preparations made. According to Tolokonnikov, it is currently difficult to guarantee a stable heating season in Kherson.

At the same time, the authorities plan to do everything possible to provide the city with heat.

“We will do everything we can to ensure that, just like in past winters when the Russians were destroying thermal power plants, we were still able to deliver heat to homes thanks to our brave energy workers.” Almost the entire city had heating all winter long. What will happen this year is unknown,” said Tolokonnikov.

Calls for evacuation intensified after Russian strikes on the Kherson Thermal Power Plant. On August 26, the Russian military attacked the plant with a guided aerial bomb, causing serious damage.

On the night of August 27, the thermal power plant was struck again—this time by four guided aerial bombs. According to regional authorities, the attack destroyed and disabled all remaining heating and power-generating capacity at the plant.

Following this, the head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration, Oleksandr Prokudin, stated that the Kherson Thermal Power Plant could no longer be relied upon to operate stably this winter and urged the city’s residents to evacuate.

Ірина Глухова