--- title: "“Winter for Kherson Could Be the Most Severe”: Prokudin Warns of Risk of Prolonged Power and Heating Outages" description: "Alexander Prokudin, head of the Kherson Regional State Administration, warned that following the strike on the TPP, the winter heating season in the city may be marked by prolonged power and heating outages. The authorities are calling on residents to evacuate in advance to safer regions." date: 2026-09-04T08:08:00.000Z lang: en url: https://xab.info/en/posts/kherson-winter-tec-prokudin-evacuation tags: [ukraine-war, kherson, energy-infrastructure, evacuation, russian-strikes, winter-crisis, tpp] publisher: "XAB.info" --- # “Winter for Kherson Could Be the Most Severe”: Prokudin Warns of Risk of Prolonged Power and Heating Outages ![Prokudin in uniform with Kherson region patch warns of prolonged power and heat outages in winter](https://xab.info/media/2026/09/04/kherson-zima-tec-prokudin-evakuatsiya/kherson-zima-tec-prokudin-evakuatsiya-1.webp) ## 🎯 Key Points - The situation in Kherson has deteriorated significantly over the past month due to strikes on critical infrastructure - The damaged Kherson TPP will not be able to supply the city with heat and electricity in the usual manner during winter - Prokudin called on residents to evacuate, describing it as “responsibility, not panic” - Evacuation has been organized by rail and road transport, and other regions are ready to receive residents Alexander Prokudin, head of the Kherson Regional State Administration, stated in an interview with RBC-Ukraine that the situation in the city has deteriorated significantly over the past month, and that the consequences of Russian strikes on critical infrastructure may be felt most acutely during the heating season. According to him, following the damage to the Kherson TPP (thermal power plant), it is no longer possible to ensure the city's supply of heat and electricity in the usual manner, and expecting these energy facilities to operate stably this winter is unrealistic. “The situation has worsened considerably over the past month. I believe we should be honest with adults,” Prokudin emphasized, adding that the authorities do not intend to wait until the city faces a large-scale collapse of basic utility services. ### Strike on the TPP and the Threat of a Winter Collapse During a recent shelling, Russian military forces damaged the Kherson TPP — a key facility that supplies the city with heat and electricity. Kherson and the settlements of the region are regularly subjected to artillery strikes, attacks by guided aerial bombs, and drone strikes, with FPV drone attacks proving especially dangerous for civilians. Against the backdrop of ongoing strikes, regional authorities have begun warning residents of possible prolonged disruptions to electricity and heating. Prokudin clarified that this is not merely a matter of everyday inconvenience: a prolonged absence of basic services could create serious problems for the health and safety of residents, especially in the conditions of winter frosts. ### Call for Evacuation: “Not Panic, but Responsibility” Responding to critical remarks about the call for evacuation, Prokudin emphasized that his goal is not to cause panic or to shift responsibility onto residents. “The task is to warn people in advance about possible consequences, give them time to prepare, and try to minimize the risks,” the head of the Regional State Administration explained. He separately noted that evacuation should be viewed as an opportunity to safeguard people in advance, especially families with children, for whom the authorities are offering to move to safer regions of Ukraine. “Property or walls can be rebuilt, but a human life cannot be returned. Therefore, the call for such an evacuation is not panic, it is responsibility,” Prokudin stated. ### Organizing Departure and Searching for Alternative Solutions According to the head of the regional administration, evacuation from Kherson has already been organized and is ongoing: residents are being transported by rail and by road, and other regions of Ukraine are ready to receive the city's residents. At the same time, regional authorities are seeking alternative solutions to ensure the city's supply of heat and electricity, however Prokudin stated outright that it is impossible to guarantee the usual level of infrastructure operation. “We understand that winter for Kherson could be the most severe,” he summarized, emphasizing that this is precisely why the issue of preparing for the heating season has been brought to the forefront right now, rather than after the first major outage. ### Context: Systematic Destruction of Energy Infrastructure The strike on the Kherson TPP became part of a broader campaign to destroy the energy infrastructure of Ukraine's southern regions. As Ukrainian media, including Focus and Gazeta.ua, note, following the damage to the plant, regional authorities moved to public warnings about a possible prolonged absence of electricity and heat. Slovodilo, citing data from the Regional State Administration, reported that the facility, by preliminary estimate, will not be able to operate fully during the winter period. Combined with regular shelling of residential areas and FPV drone attacks, this forms a comprehensive threat for Kherson's residents, which, according to local authorities, cannot be neutralized by the city's own resources alone. ## 🔍 Fact-Check Verification - [The Situation Has Sharply Worsened: Prokudin Talks About What Awaits Kherson in Winter](https://www.rbc.ua/ukr/news/situatsiya-rizko-pogirshilasya-prokudin-rozpoviv-1788508993.html) - Первичный источник — прямое интервью главы Херсонской ОВА. Все цитаты и ключевые тезисы взяты из данного материала. - [Russians Attacked the Kherson TPP: Residents Asked to Leave the Regional Center (Video)](https://focus.ua/voennye-novosti/766008-vs-rf-popali-po-tec-v-ova-prizyvayut-evakuirovatsya-iz-hersona-fokus) - Подтверждает факт удара по ТЭЦ и призыв к эвакуации. Совпадает с версией Прокудина. - [Kherson Could Be Left Without Power and Heat for a Long Time: Russia Destroyed the TPP](https://gazeta.ua/ru/articles/regions/_herson-mozhet-ostatsya-bez-sveta-i-tepla-na-dlitelnoe-vremya-rf-razrushila-tec/1257494) - Подтверждает угрозу длительных отключений. Формулировка «разрушила» несколько жёстче, чем «повредила» в интервью, но суть совпадает. - [Strike on the Kherson TPP: Regional Administration Suggests the Facility Will Not Operate in Winter](https://ru.slovoidilo.ua/2026/08/27/novost/bezopasnost/udar-xersonskoj-tecz-ova-predpolozhili-chto-obekt-ne-budet-rabotat-zimoj) - Датирован 27.08.2026. Подтверждает оценку ОВА о невозможности полноценной работы ТЭЦ в зимний период. ## ❓ FAQ ### Q: What happened to the Kherson TPP? **A:** During a shelling, Russian military forces damaged the Kherson TPP. According to the regional administration's assessment, the facility will not be able to operate fully during the winter heating season, which threatens prolonged disruptions to the city's electricity and heat supply. ### Q: Why are the authorities calling for evacuation? **A:** Alexander Prokudin, head of the Kherson Regional State Administration, explained that the call for evacuation is linked to the inability to guarantee the operation of critical infrastructure in winter amid ongoing shelling. He emphasized that this is “not panic, but responsibility,” especially toward families with children. ### Q: How is the evacuation from Kherson organized? **A:** According to Prokudin, the evacuation is ongoing and has been organized by rail and road transport. Other regions of Ukraine are ready to receive Kherson's residents. ### Q: When did the strike on the TPP take place? **A:** The exact date of the strike is not specified in the provided sources; media report on it in the context of events at the end of August 2026. Prokudin's interview, in which he comments on the consequences, was published in early September 2026.