Kherson region is an administrative-territorial unit of Ukraine,
located in the south of the country, on two banks of the lower reaches
of the Dnieper.
In the west it borders on the Nikolaev region, in
the north - on the Dnipropetrovsk region, in the east - on the
Zaporozhye region, in the south - on the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
It is located on the shores of the Black and Azov Seas.
The area of the region is 28.4 thousand km² (7th place in
Ukraine), the population at the beginning of 2022 was estimated at 1.0
million people (21st place). The administrative center and largest city
is Kherson, other large cities are Novaya Kakhovka, Kakhovka and
Alyoshki.
The region was formed in 1944 by the secession of the
Ukrainian SSR from the Zaporozhye region after the liberation from the
German occupation.
As a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine
since the end of February 2022, most of the region has been under
Russian occupation. On September 30, Russia announced the annexation of
the region. During the counter-offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,
by October 6, Ukraine returned more than 400 km2 of the region's
territory to its control. On November 11, Ukrainian troops entered
Kherson itself. Before leaving the city, Russian troops destroyed its
main infrastructure, including power and water supplies.
Kherson is the administrative center of Kherson Oblast and a historic
port on the right bank of the Dnieper, founded in 1778 as a fortress and
shipyard under Grigory Potemkin. The city grew around the Kherson
fortress, the St. Catherine Cathedral, and the shipbuilding yards that
launched Black Sea fleet vessels, and its river port linked the steppe
interior with Odessa and the Mediterranean. The old center keeps
19th-century merchant houses, the regional museum, and the waterfront
promenade, while the modern city spreads toward the Antonivskyi Bridge
and the industrial districts.
Nova Kakhovka, often called New
Kakhovka, was laid out in 1952 as the company town of the Kakhovka
Hydroelectric Station on the left bank of the Dnieper. Wide avenues,
parks, and Soviet modernist housing were planned around the power
station, the North Crimean Canal headworks, and the reservoir shoreline.
The June 2023 breach of the Kakhovka Dam emptied the reservoir, exposed
the old riverbed, and flooded the lower town, changing the landscape
that had defined the city for seventy years.
Kakhovka sits on the
left bank opposite the dam site and is older than its planned neighbor,
with Cossack-era roots and a 19th-century river-trade past. The town is
known for the Kakhovka watermelon country, the historic park associated
with the former estate of the Falg-Fein family, and its role as a
crossing point on the Dnieper steppe road. Before the reservoir was
drained it faced open water; the river has since returned to a narrower
channel below the ruined dam.
Oleshky, long known as Alyoshka and
earlier as Tsyurupynsk, lies just east of Kherson on the left bank among
pine plantations and the Oleshky Sands, the largest sand massif in
Ukraine. The sands, fixed in places by forest belts planted in the 19th
and 20th centuries, form a semi-desert landscape of dunes, rare steppe
plants, and small lakes. The town itself is a quiet riverside settlement
tied to forestry, market gardening, and the road toward the lower
Dnieper delta.
Henichesk is a port and rail town at the western end
of the Sea of Azov, where the Henichesk Strait separates the mainland
from the Arabat Spit. Salt works, fishing, and the crossing to Arabat
historically shaped the economy, and the low shoreline, limans, and
shallow Azov water give the district a distinct coastal-steppe
character. The town is the administrative hub of the eastern Kherson
coast and the gateway toward the long sand bar that runs south to
Crimea.
Skadovsk is a small Black Sea resort on the shallow
Dzharylhach Gulf, founded in the 1890s by the entrepreneur Sergei
Skadovsky as a grain port and bathing place. A long wooden pier, sandy
municipal beach, and low-rise seafront made it a popular summer stop for
Kherson and inland visitors, with the Dzharylhach island and spit across
the bay. Fishing, salt-tolerant steppe, and the quiet off-season
waterfront remain the main features of the town.
Hola Prystan, whose
name is often rendered Naked Pier or Golaya Pristan, stands on the Konka
arm of the Dnieper delta southwest of Kherson. It grew as a river port
and ship-repair center for delta traffic and still sits at the edge of
reed beds, channels, and the Black Sea Biosphere Reserve. Boat routes
through the lower delta, fish markets, and the road toward the Kinburn
Spit define its practical geography.
Beryslav, also spelled Berislav,
occupies a high right-bank terrace of the Dnieper above the former
Kakhovka Reservoir, on the site of older crossings and the 18th-century
fortress of Berislav. Vineyards, melon fields, and the river road toward
Kakhovka and Nova Kakhovka made it a steppe market town. The draining of
the reservoir returned rapids and a lower waterline beneath the bluffs
and exposed stretches of the historic riverbed.
Antonivka, or
Antonovka, is a riverside district on the northern edge of Kherson at
the right-bank abutment of the Antonivskyi Bridge, the main road link
across the Dnieper toward Oleshky and the left-bank oblast. Summer
cottages, market gardens, and the bridge approaches long mixed with the
city fringe. The bridge was heavily damaged in 2022, and the district
remains defined by the river crossing and the road north toward
Mykolaiv.
Tavriisk is a small planned town immediately beside Nova
Kakhovka, built to house workers of the hydroelectric station, the canal
administration, and related plants. Its streets follow the same
mid-century grid as its larger neighbor, with parks, schools, and
housing blocks set between the industrial zone and the former reservoir
bank. Daily life was tied to the power station and the North Crimean
Canal until the 2023 dam collapse altered the water system.
Novotroitske is a rural settlement in Henichesk Raion in the dry eastern
steppe of Kherson Oblast, between the Azov lowland and the roads that
run toward Melitopol and the Crimean isthmus. Grain, sunflowers, and
livestock dominate the surrounding fields, and the town serves as a
local market and administrative point for nearby villages. Irrigation
from the canal system historically softened this arid district, and the
landscape remains open, flat, and sparsely wooded.
Automotive
On the territory of the Kherson region are:
highway
M-14;
motorway E 58;
motorway E 97;
motorway E 105.
Railway
In the Kherson region there are railways owned by the state
administration "Ukrzaliznytsya" and related to the Odessa railway, as
well as the Crimean branch of the Pridneprovskaya railway.
Water
The main water arteries of the region are the Dnieper and Ingulets
rivers. The Black Sea ports are Kherson and Skadovsk.
Aviation
Kherson International Airport is located 3 km from the M-14 highway in
the village. Chernobaevka, Kherson region. The airport has a 2500 m long
runway and a modern air terminal complex capable of serving up to 100
passengers per hour. From the airport "Kherson" there are regular
flights Kherson-Istanbul (Turkish Airlines) and Kherson-Kyiv (Borispol)
(Ukraine International Airlines). The airport has a customs and border
control point. The airport has the ability to receive passenger and
cargo aircraft such as Tu-154, Il-76, Boeing, as well as helicopters of
any class.
Skadovsk Airport was located in the city of Skadovsk.
The territory of the Kherson region is 28,461 km², the length from
north to south is 180 km, from west to east - 258 km.
The region
is located in the steppe zone, on the lower reaches of the Dnieper
River. 19 rivers flow on the territory of the region, of which the
largest are: the Dnieper - 178 km, Ingulets - 180 km. The Dnieper River
divides the region into two parts - the right bank and the left bank,
which is also called Northern Tavria.
It is washed by the Black
Sea in the southwest and the Azov Sea in the southeast. In the north,
the region borders on the Dnipropetrovsk region, in the east - on
Zaporozhye, in the west - on Mykolaiv, in the south - on the
(Autonomous) Republic of Crimea
The main feature of the
geographical location is access to the Azov-Black Sea basin and the
Dnieper waterway. This opens up wide opportunities for the further
development of sea and river transportation, the recreation industry.
The climate of the Kherson region is temperate continental, arid. Average monthly temperatures: in July +25.4 °C, in January -2.1 °C. On some days in summer the temperature can reach 40 °C, and in winter -20 °C. The duration of the frost-free period is 179 days a year. The average annual rainfall is between 320 mm and 400 mm.
In the Kherson region there are islands:
In the valley and
delta of the Dnieper River:
quarantine
Potemkinsky (Big Potemkin)
Potemkin small
Kruglik
Belogrudov
Belogrudov small
Krasnikovsky
Circassian
Gapsky
Nestriga
Kozulikhsky
Zabic
Domakhsky
Great
stranka
Vasilkov
Prorezhansky
bakery
Toloka
Youth
Sashny
Kovtunovsky
Sweet
viper scythe
Falcon small
Sokolin big
martynovskaya spit
Borscht
Kasperovsky small (Somarchuk)
On the Sea of Azov:
biruchiy
In the Sivash Bay:
camel
camel
reeds
China
Kryachiny
Kuyuk-Tuk
Papanin
Russian
Churyuk
At the Black Sea:
Babin
Dzharylgach
Horse
Orlov
Tarred
Tendra Spit
Yegorlytsky Islands
Kalanchak Islands
oyster islands
The first human traces on the territory of modern Kherson region date
back to 10-5 thousand BC. e. In the 3rd - beginning. 2nd millennium BC
e. most of the steppe was occupied by pastoral tribes. At the end of the
4th - beginning. 1st millennium BC e. the area begins to be populated
much more densely. In the VI-III centuries BC. e. the Cimmerians were
driven out and partially subjugated by the new nomadic tribes of the
Scythians, who formed their own state - Scythia.
In honor of the
village of Sivashovka, where several characteristic graves were found,
the monuments of the Sivashovka type of the 2nd half of the 7th century
- the beginning of the 8th century were named.
Later, in the 9th
century, with the emergence of Kievan Rus, the Dnieper became part of
the trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks." The outlet to the
Black Sea opens up.
On the territory of the village of Radensk, a
piece of silver of Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich was found. In 1084,
Prince Davyd Igorevich, "wandering in southern Russia and beyond its
borders, took possession of Olesh, a Greek city near the mouth of the
Dnieper, and brazenly robbed many merchants there." In 1159, the
Berladniks captured Oleshya.
With the foundation of the
Zaporizhzhya Sich, the Lower Dnieper region began to be populated by
Cossacks, who defended the region from the Turkish-Tatar invaders.
At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the territory of the
modern Kherson region was occupied by the troops of Nazi Germany and the
Nazi coalition and became part of the Reichskommissariat Ukraine, an
administrative unit of the Greater German Reich.
During the
occupation, the work of Soviet partisan detachments began on the
territory of the Reichskommissariat, which controlled a significant part
of the occupied territory and prevented the supply of equipment and food
to the units of the German troops.
As evidenced by the
declassified political report of the head of the political department of
the 3rd Ukrainian Front, Lieutenant General Mikhail Rudakov, to the head
of the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army, Colonel General
Alexander Shcherbakov, declassified by the Ministry of Defense of the
Russian Federation, tens of thousands of civilians were tortured and
executed on the territory of the Kherson region.
On March 13,
1944, the city of Kherson was liberated by the troops of the Red Army
during the Bereznegovato-Snigirevskaya offensive operation (March 6-18,
1944). On the same day, the announcer of the All-Union Radio of the USSR
State Radio and Television Yuri Levitan read out on the air the
operational report of the Soviet Information Bureau, in which he
announced the liberation of Kherson, calling the city a regional center,
which was not true. Joseph Stalin, having learned about this, said
approximately the following: “You say there is no Kherson region? So it
will be." So that the read out report would not be considered
disinformation, Stalin ordered the creation of the Kherson region.
On March 30, 1944, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme
Soviet of the USSR "On the formation of the Kherson region as part of
the Ukrainian SSR", the Kherson region was created. The region included
the city of Kherson and Belozersky, Berislavsky, Bolshe-Aleksandrovsky,
Golopristansky, Gornostaevsky, Kalanchaksky, Kalinindorfsky (renamed
Kalininsky, liquidated in 1962), Kakhovsky, Novo-Vorontsovsky,
Skadovsky, Khersonsky (as part of the Kherson region it was called
Khersonselsky, liquidated in 1962), Chaplynsky and Tsyurupinsky
districts separated from the Nikolaev region, as well as
Bolshe-Lepetikhsky, Genichesk, Ivanovsky, Nizhne-Serogozsky,
Novo-Troitsky and Sivashsky (liquidated in 1962) regions separated from
the Zaporozhye region of the Ukrainian SSR.
On February 24, 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian
troops entered the south of the region. By the end of February, most of
the region, including Kherson, was occupied by Russian troops.
In
March and April, pro-Ukrainian rallies were held in Kherson and other
cities in the region, which were dispersed by the Russian army.
On April 26, the head of the Kherson Regional State Administration,
Gennady Laguta, said that the Russian military had held a special
meeting in the city council of Kherson, the premises of which they had
seized the day before. On the same day, the Russian state news agency
RIA Novosti announced that "new leaders have been appointed" in Kherson
and the Kherson region. Laguta noted that the appointments are illegal.
On May 23, the head of the Russian occupational CAA of the Kherson
region, Vladimir Saldo, announced that the region was officially
becoming a dual-currency zone.
On May 25, Russian President
Vladimir Putin issued a decree on the simplified provision of Russian
passports to residents of the Kherson region. The population of the
region will be able to obtain Russian passports following the same
procedure as residents of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
On
June 16, the deputy head of the Russian occupational CAA of the Kherson
region announced that children born in the region after February 24, as
well as orphans, would automatically receive citizenship of the Russian
Federation. According to him, more than 10,000 applications for Russian
passports have been filed in the region.
On June 29, Kirill
Stremousov announced that preparations had begun for a "referendum on
joining Russia" in the Kherson region.
On July 4, the Russian
occupational military administration of the Kherson region announced the
creation of a regional government. Sergey Eliseev, the former deputy
head of the Kaliningrad region, who served in the Federal Security
Service, became its head. Oleksiy Kovalyov, a former deputy of the
Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine from the presidential faction Servant of the
People, as well as a Russian from Kaliningrad, Vladimir Bespalov, have
been appointed vice-premiers. The post of Minister of Science and
Education of the region was taken by the ex-deputy head of the
administration of Kashira, Mikhail Rodikov.
From September 23 to
September 27, 2022, a “referendum” was held in the Russian-occupied part
of the Kherson region with the aim of annexation. According to
Russian-established election commissions, 87% of the ballots in the
Kherson region supported the annexation of the region by Russia.
On September 29, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree in
which he recognized the Kherson region as an independent state. This was
a formal step towards the annexation of Ukrainian territories, announced
the next day.
Kherson region has a significant potential for the development of
agricultural production, large areas of agricultural land with fertile
lands (1968.4 thousand hectares, including 1770 thousand hectares of
arable land) and a significant amount of effective temperatures. This
creates the necessary natural prerequisites for the production of
significant volumes of crop and livestock products. Kherson region is an
important region for growing high-quality food grains of winter wheat,
corn, rice, and sunflower. The region has significant areas of irrigated
land, which allows growing vegetables, gourds and grapes. Scientific
support for efficient farming on irrigated and non-irrigated lands is
provided by the Institute of Irrigated Agriculture of the National
Academy of Sciences.
The presence of a developed processing
industry makes it possible to process manufactured products directly in
the region, thereby reducing the cost of its transportation and
preventing the outflow of income to other regions.
Favorable
geographical position, relative proximity to important markets of the
CIS countries and the Middle East allows the Kherson region to export
significant volumes of agricultural products. Potentially, the region
has the ability to grow annually at least 2 million tons of food grains,
1 million tons of vegetables and gourds, 35 thousand tons of rice, 100
thousand tons of fruits, 50 thousand tons of grapes and many other
products.
The biosphere reserve Askania-Nova is located on the
territory of the region.