Kherson under relentless drone attacks: two dead, child injured, as officials plead for evacuation

Russian drone strikes on Kherson on 31 August killed two civilians, wounded a child at a supermarket, and hit a medical facility, as the head of the region made an unusually direct plea for residents to leave the city.

Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson Oblast Military Administration, said on Telegram that the security situation had become so dire that he could no longer downplay the risks. “If there is a recommendation to evacuate, evacuate,” he wrote, adding that the city’s critical infrastructure remained functional but that even the best protection could not guarantee safety from a Russian guided bomb Source 18.

The Russian military has been using drones to strike Kherson almost daily. On 31 August alone, the attacks began early and continued into the afternoon. At around 06:45, a drone hit the grounds of a medical facility in the city centre, injuring a 69-year-old woman and a 62-year-old man, both of whom suffered concussion and blast injuries Source 14. Later in the morning, a drone strike in the central part of the city killed an elderly woman; another attack killed a man whose identity is still being established Source 16.

At around 16:30, a Russian drone struck the roof of a supermarket in the Tsentralnyi district, wounding an 11-year-old boy. According to Yaroslav Shanko, head of the Kherson City Military Administration, the child was hospitalised with a blast injury and shrapnel wounds Source 17.

To the east, in Donetsk Oblast, Russian forces used a FAB-500 aerial bomb against Sloviansk at 04:20 on the same day. The bomb hit a multi-storey residential building in the city centre, destroying the stairwell from the ground to the fourth floor. Vadym Liakh, head of the Sloviansk City Military Administration, reported that at least 32 buildings, a hotel, a kindergarten and cars were damaged, and four people were injured Source 15.

Prokudin’s evacuation call, posted on 31 August, marked a shift in tone. He acknowledged that his earlier warnings had caused anxiety, but insisted that adults needed to hear the truth. “The situation in Kherson is particularly difficult because of the Russians’ proximity,” he said, pointing to the 27 August strike on the Kherson Combined Heat and Power Plant that left the city without heat and power Source 18. Officials are now considering accommodation options in safer regions.

The attacks on Kherson and Sloviansk are part of a broader pattern of Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities over the past week. On 27 August, a Russian FPV drone killed a 78-year-old woman in the village of Hryhorivka in Zaporizhzhia Oblast Source 6. The same day, a drone hit a civilian vehicle in Zaporizhzhia city, injuring two men Source 8. In Kharkiv, a drone struck the balcony of a high-rise building, leaving a 30-year-old man in shock Source 3. On 28 August, a guided bomb killed a lorry driver in Sumy and injured seven others Source 9.

Ukrainian air defences have been working to counter the attacks. On the night of 26-27 August, the Air Force reported shooting down 222 drones and seven ballistic missiles, but hits were recorded at 15 locations Source 5. The scale of the Russian drone campaign is straining both air defence and civilian infrastructure: Ukrainian Railways reported significant delays on several routes on 28 August, with some trains running more than 11 hours late due to air-raid warnings and attacks Source 10.

For the residents of Kherson, the situation is now a daily calculus of survival. Prokudin’s public plea is a rare admission that even the authorities cannot guarantee safety. “Do not ignore the danger,” he said. “Do not listen to those who try to portray such decisions as some kind of ‘betrayal’.” The question is whether enough people will heed the warning before the next bomb hits.