Russian strikes on Kherson heating plant leave over 40,000 residents in the cold
40,500 residents of Kherson are without heating after the city's central heating plant was taken out of action by repeated Russian strikes, Kherson Oblast Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on Dec. 4
The closure came after several days of sustained attacks by drones and artillery, targeting the halls and equipment of the plant, according to Prokudin. A total of 470 buildings are affected by the outage, he said.
The attack represents just the latest episode in Russia's targeted campaign against Ukrainian central heating infrastructure, a relatively new feature of the larger destruction of energy generation and distribution in the country that has escalated as the winter weather approaches.
More so than any other major Ukrainian city, Kherson — which was occupied by Russian forces for eight month in 2022 — is particularly vulnerable to Russian attacks, due to the extreme proximity of the urban area to the nearest Russian positions just across the Dnipro River.
Because of this, Kherson, its infrastructure, and its residents, are within range not only of longer-range weapons like missiles and Shahed-type drones, but also glide bombs, tubed artillery, and first-person view (FPV) drones, which regularly target Ukrainian civilians in the city.
"A completely civilian facility that provided heat to the townspeople suffered serious damage: the station's premises and equipment were damaged," said Prokudin of the strikes on the heating plant.
"Terrorists are once again waging war against the civilian population."
