A second strike with guided bombs in two days destroyed all the equipment still standing at Kherson's thermal power plant. Authorities are urging residents, especially families with children and the elderly, to leave the city ahead of the heating season.
Overnight on Aug. 27, Russia struck Kherson's combined heat and power plant — the main source of heat for a large share of the city's residential buildings — with guided aerial bombs for the second time in two days. This time, the strike finally destroyed and disabled all the heat- and power-generating equipment still standing at the station.
Russia first hit the plant with a guided bomb on the afternoon of Aug. 26. The following night, four more guided bombs completed the destruction. According to Naftogaz's chief executive, who reported the attack on Telegram, the station sustained critical damage. Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson regional military administration, stressed that this is a purely civilian facility and the strike serves no military purpose — only an intent to deprive tens of thousands of Kherson residents of heat ahead of winter.
Prokudin appealed to residents, especially families with children and elderly people, to leave now if they have the means, rather than wait for the heating season to begin. The regional administration says it will help with evacuation, transport, housing and social support for those who leave on their own. Contact numbers 0 800 101 102, 0 800 330 951 and the single government hotline 1548 are available. Since July 1 alone, 170 guided aerial bombs have been dropped on Kherson region — more than in the entire first half of the year.
Destroying heating infrastructure ahead of winter directly increases the need for generators, warm clothing and heating equipment for people who remain in frontline communities. NGO Volunteers Support Ukraine continues tracking these critical points so that humanitarian aid — from power banks to blankets — reaches exactly where it's needed most this winter.
Volunteers Support Ukraine helps people affected by the war in whatever way its available resources allow, and calls for support for those who will be left without heat at home this winter.
