--- title: "“Winter Will Be as Heavy as Possible”: Kherson RMA Head Prokudin Urges Residents to Leave the City After Strikes on the Power Plant" description: "Kherson RMA head Alexander Prokudin urged residents to leave the city after strikes on the power plant, warning of a maximally heavy winter. Kherson's population has shrunk to 60,000, with up to 6,000 drone attacks recorded per week." date: 2026-09-04T04:02:01.000Z lang: en url: https://xab.info/en/posts/prokudin-kherson-winter-evacuation-power-plant tags: [] publisher: "XAB.info" --- # “Winter Will Be as Heavy as Possible”: Kherson RMA Head Prokudin Urges Residents to Leave the City After Strikes on the Power Plant ![Head of Kherson Regional Military Administration Oleksandr Prokudin at a briefing after strikes on the power plant, urging residents to leave the city before a harsh winter](https://xab.info/media/2026/09/04/prokudin-kherson-zima-evakuaciya-tec/prokudin-kherson-zima-evakuaciya-tec-1.webp) Kherson Oblast, together with its regional center, comes under dozens of shelling incidents every day. Russian military forces strike the city and the region with everything within their reach: artillery, guided aerial bombs (GABs), “Shahed”-type cruise drones, and FPV unmanned aerial vehicles. Particularly hard on local residents has been the drone terror, which, according to Alexander Prokudin, head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration, began in 2024 and has not stopped since. Over the past week, around six thousand drone attacks have been recorded in the region. It is against the backdrop of this endless pressure and the recent strike on the Kherson thermal power plant (TPP) that Prokudin appealed to residents to evacuate in advance. ### Strike on the Power Plant and Call for Evacuation Recently, Russian military forces struck the Kherson thermal power plant, seriously undermining the city's energy resilience. Since then, Alexander Prokudin has consistently urged local residents to leave the city whenever possible, warning that the upcoming winter will be as heavy as possible. “I called for evacuation not when it gets hot and Kherson is surviving without heat, without light, and without anything at all, and now this is not to sow panic, to frighten, or to shift responsibility, but to warn people in advance, to prepare, and together to do everything possible to minimize the consequences,” the RMA head emphasized in an interview with RBC-Ukraine. According to him, due to the intensification of shelling, it is impossible to count on the power plant and other critical infrastructure facilities for heat and energy supply operating in the usual mode: “Kherson may remain without electricity for a very long time.” ### Demography Under Fire: From 300,000 to 60,000 The situation with Kherson's population has changed dramatically over the years of war. If before the full-scale invasion the regional center was home to around 300,000 people, now only about 60,000 remain in the city — roughly 20% of the pre-war figure. Moreover, according to Prokudin's assessment, it is already impossible to identify the “safest” districts: “The entire area where Kherson is located is dangerous, and even those districts that two months ago could have been called relatively safe. Now this is a red zone, where we have the most wounded and killed people.” The RMA head emphasizes: “Property or walls can be rebuilt, but a human life cannot be returned.” ### Plan for a Heavy Winter: 152 Resilience Hubs and 400 Shelters Despite the pessimistic forecasts, the Kherson RMA has already implemented a comprehensive set of measures to ensure the city's viability in conditions of prolonged power outages. All critical infrastructure facilities — hospitals, pumping stations, life-support points — are equipped with backup power sources. Work is underway on alternative options for heat and energy supply. A key element of the system is the so-called “resilience hubs”: currently, 152 such hubs are operating on a permanent basis, and another 47 are ready to be deployed quickly if additional need arises. They provide people with basic services in the event of prolonged outages — the ability to warm up, charge a phone, get connectivity, and receive necessary assistance. In addition, the city has about 400 shelters of various protection levels, also equipped with everything necessary. ### Humanitarian Logistics and International Support For those residents who remain in Kherson, the RMA is preparing a large-scale material support program. The receipt of gas heaters, cooking stoves, sleeping bags, and other essential items has already been planned. Throughout the year, the administration has been working with international partners and Ukrainian structures, including Naftogaz, on the supply of these resources. Fuel supplies for heating private homes have also been prepared. Prokudin notes that over the years of war, a practice of helping people left without heat and light has been developed in the region, and the current stock of knowledge allows for faster and more effective action. ### Atmosphere in the City: “No Positive Mood for a Couple of Years” In response to a question about the emotional state of Kherson residents, Alexander Prokudin was candid to the extreme: “There has probably been no positive mood for a couple of years, since 2024, when the drone terror began. Of course, now they are striking with everything: with reactive ‘Shaheds’ every day, and with GABs every day. How can you assess life if there are six thousand drone attacks a week? I don't think anyone has a positive...”. At the same time, he emphasizes that the call for evacuation is not panic, but the authority's responsibility toward residents who are about to endure, possibly, the heaviest winter in the entire history of the conflict. ## 🔍 Fact-Check Verification - [All of Kherson Gets Power Like a Single Supermarket in Kyiv: Alexander Prokudin, RMA](https://www.rbc.ua/ukr/news/herson-otrimue-svitlo-k-odin-supermarket-1788444496.html) - Подтверждено по источнику rbc.ua - [Russians Destroyed the Kherson Power Plant with Aerial Bombs: Authorities Urge Residents to Leave the City](https://www.pravda.com.ua/rus/news/2026/08/27/8050645/) - Подтверждено по источнику pravda.com.ua - [Russians Attacked the Kherson Power Plant: Citizens 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) - Подтверждено по источнику focus.ua - [Residents of a Major Regional Center Urged to Evacuate — What Happened](https://glavred.info/war/zhiteley-krupnogo-oblastnogo-centra-prizvali-evakuirovatsya-chto-proizoshlo-10791974.html) - Подтверждено по источнику glavred.info