Kherson was preceded by the town ofBilechowisce, first marked on a map byGuillaume Le Vasseur de Beauplan from 1648.Bilchowisce was listed as one of the three chief towns ofYedisan in a 1701 book by English cartographerHerman Moll.[9] A French-language map of the site in 1769 (inset) shows a Russian-built fort orsconce named St. Alexandre. This had been built in 1737 during theRusso-Turkish War and served theZaporizhian Sich as an administrative center, run by localCossacks.
1783 saw the city granted the rights of a district town and the opening of a local shipyard where the hulls of the Russian Black Sea fleet were laid. Within a year the Kherson Shipping Company began operations. By the end of the 18th century, the port had established trade with France, Italy, Spain and other European countries. Between 1783 and 1793 Poland's maritime trade via the Black Sea was conducted through Kherson by theKompania Handlowa Polska. The Poles leased a piece of the shoreline and built houses, exchange offices, workshops and warehouses.[10] There was substantial immigration ofPoles and a Polish consulate was established in 1783.[10] In 1791, Potemkin was buried in the newly built St. Catherine's Cathedral. In 1803 the city became the capital of theKherson Governorate.[4]
Kherson in 1855
Industry, beginning with breweries, tanneries and other food and agricultural processing, developed from the 1850s.[citation needed] According to theGeographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and other Slavic Countries from 1880, the city was mostly inhabited byUkrainians,Greeks andJews.[11] According to the 1897 census, the population of the city was 59,076 of which, on the basis of their first language, 47.2% were recorded as Russian, 29.1% as Jewish, 19.6% Ukrainian, 1.7% Polish.[12][13] During therevolution of 1905 there were workers' strikes and an army mutiny (an armed demonstration by soldiers of the 10th Disciplinary Battalion) in the city.[14]
The Bolsheviks dissolved SR-dominated Assembly after its first sitting,[16] and proceeded to force from Kiev theCentral Council of Ukraine (Tsentralna Rada) whose response to theLeninist coup had been to proclaim the independence of theUkrainian People's Republic (UPR). But, before the Bolsheviks could secure Kherson, they were obliged to cede the region under the terms of the March 1918Treaty of Brest-Litovsk to the German and Austrian controlledUkrainian State. After the withdrawal of German and Austrian forces in November 1918, the efforts of the UPR (thePetluirites) to assert authority were frustrated by aFrench-led Allied intervention which occupied Kherson in January 1919.[17]
An aerial view of the city in 1918
In March 1919, theGreen Army of local warlordOtamanNykyfor Hryhoriv ousted the French and Greek garrison and precipitated the Allied evacuation fromOdesa. In July, the Bolsheviks defeated Hryhoriv who had called upon the Ukrainian people to rise against the "Communist impostors" and their "Jewish commissars",[18] and had perpetrated pogroms,[18] including in the Kherson region.[19] Kherson itself was occupied by the counter-revolutionary Whites before finally falling to the BolshevikRed Army in February 1920.[4] In 1922 the city and region was formally incorporated into theUkrainian SSR a constituent republic of theSoviet Union.[citation needed]
The population was radically reduced from 75,000 to 41,000 by thefamine of 1921–1923, but then rose steadily, reaching 97,200 in 1939.[20]
Further devastation and population loss resulted from theGerman occupation during theSecond World War. The German occupation, which lasted from August 1941 to March 1944, contended with both Soviet and Ukrainian nationalist (OUN) underground cells. The Kherson district leadership of the OUN was headed byBohdan Bandera [uk] (brother of OUN leaderStepan Bandera).[22]
In September 1941, the Germans executed the city's remaining Jewish population, several thousand men, women and children, in anti-tank ditches near the village ofZelenivka.[23] Later, they used the place to bury Soviet soldiers from aprisoner-of-war camp in the city (Stalag 370).[24][25]
In the post-war decades, which saw substantial industrial growth, the population more than doubled, reaching 261,000 by 1970.[26] The new factories, including the Comintern Shipbuilding and Repairs Complex, the Kuibyshev Ship Repair Complex, and the Kherson Cotton Textile Manufacturing Complex (one of the largest textile plants in the Soviet Union), and Kherson's growing grain-exporting port, drew in labour from the Ukrainian countryside. This changed the city's ethnic composition, increasing the Ukrainian share from 36% in 1926 to 63% in 1959, while reducing the Russian share from 36 to 29%. The Jewish population never recovered from theHolocaust visited by the Germans: accounting for 26% of residents in 1926, their number had fallen to just 6% in 1959.[26]
In independent Ukraine
With a turnout of 83.4% of eligible voters, 90.1% of the votes cast in Kherson Oblast affirmed Ukrainian independence in thenational referendum of 1 December 1991.[27] Withthe collapse of the Soviet Union, Kherson and its industries experienced severe dislocation. Over the following three decades, the population of both the city and the region declined, reflecting both a significant excess of deaths over live births and persistent net-emigration from the area.[28][29]
In July 2020, as part of the general administrative reform of Ukraine, the Kherson Municipality was merged asKherson urban hromada into newly establishedKherson Raion, one of five raions in theKherson Oblast of which the city remained the administrative centre.[32][33]
Kherson in 2021
A "City Profile", part of the SCORE (Social Cohesion and Reconciliation)[34]Ukraine 2021 project funded byUSAID, theUnited Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and theEuropean Union, concluded that "more than 80% of citizens in Kherson city feel their locality is a good place to live, work, and raise a family". This was despite a low level of trust in the local authorities in whom corruption was perceived to be high. It also found that, while more inclined to express support for co-operation with Russia than for membership of the EU, "citizens in Kherson feel attached to their Ukrainian identity".[35]
The parties widely perceived aspro-Russian, andEuro-skeptic,[37]Opposition Platform,Volodymyr Saldo Bloc, andParty of Shariy (3.9%) had a combined vote of just over 30% of the total, and secured 20 out of the 54 seats on the city council. In the wake of the invasion, the Opposition Platform and the Party of Shariy were banned by the National Security Council for alleged ties to theKremlin.[38][39][40]
Under the Russian occupation, locals continued to stage street protests against the invading army's presence and in support of the unity of Ukraine.[48][49] According to the Ukrainian government, the Russian military sought to create a puppetKherson People's Republic in the style of the Russian-backed separatist polities in theDonbas region and tried to coerce local councillors into endorsing the move, detaining those activists and officials who opposed their design.[50]
By 26 April 2022, Russian troops had taken over the city's administration headquarters and had appointed both a new mayor,[51] formerKGB agentAlexander Kobets, and ex-mayorVolodymyr Saldo as a new civilian-military regional administrator.[52] The next day,Ukraine's Prosecutor General said that troops used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse a further pro-Ukraine rally in the city centre.[51] In an indication of an intended split from Ukraine, on the 28th the new administration announced that from May it would switch the region's payments to theRussian ruble. Citing unnamed reports about alleged discrimination against Russian speakers, its deputy head,Kirill Stremousov, said that "reintegrating the Kherson region back into a Nazi Ukraine is out of the question".[53]
Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy with soldiers who distinguished themselves during the liberation of Kherson
Russian forces were ordered to withdraw from the city by defence ministerSergei Shoigu and regroup on the eastern side of theDnieper on 9 November 2022. Ukrainian officials claimed that Russian troops were destroying bridges connecting the city to the other bank of the river.[56][57] On 11 November, Ukraine announced that its forces had entered the city following the Russian withdrawal.[58][59]
Kherson after shelling by the Russian army on 15 January 2023
Before retreating, the Russian army destroyed infrastructure facilities of the city (communications, water, heat, electricity,TV tower),[60][61] looted two main museums (Local History Museum and theArt Museum), transporting their items to Crimean museums,[62][63] and took away several monuments to historical figures.[64][65]
With Russian forces entrenched just across the Dnipro River, the city remains subject to frequent shelling,[67] and since May 2024, to small drone attacks that target civilians in aterror campaign that has become known as the ″human safari″. Drones, according to American freelance journalistZarina Zabrisky many of them funded by Russian civilians, hit targets such as people at bus stops, commuters and children playing in parks, with footage of the attacks being shared and celebrated on Russian social media.[68][69] According to the Kherson City Council Executive Committee, between 1 May and 16 December 2024, drone attacks in Kherson killed at least 30 civilians and injured another 483.[70] In March 2025, the regional governor,Oleksandr Prokudin, was reporting between 600 and 700 drone attacks a week in the city.[71]
In these conditions, the city's pre-war population of 280,000[4] has shrunk to just 60,000.[71]
Tsentralnyi District, meaning the Central District,[76] is the central and oldest district of the city. Includes departments:Tavriiskyi [uk], Pіvnichnyi andMlyny [uk].[citation needed] It was known as Suvorovskyi District until October 2023, when it was renamed in compliance with nationwide laws onderussification of toponymy. The old name was derived from that of the Tsarist Russian military leaderAlexander Suvorov.[76]
Dniprovskyi District, named for theDnieper river. Includes departments: Antonivka, Molodizhne, Zelenivka, Petrivka, Bohdanivka, Soniachne, Naddniprianske, Inzhenerne.[citation needed]
Korabelnyi District, which includes the following departments: Shumenskyi, Korabel, Zabalka, Sukharne, Zhytloselyshche, Selyshche-4, Selyshche-5.[citation needed]
Kherson is connected to the national railroad network of Ukraine. There are daily long-distance services toKyiv,Lviv and other cities.
Kherson is served byKherson International Airport.[80] It operates a 2,500 x 42-meter concrete runway, accommodating Boeing 737, Airbus 319/320 aircraft, and helicopters of all series.[81]
^abcde"Херсон" [Kherson]. In Vvedensky, B. A., ed. (1957).Большая Советская Энциклопедия [The Great Soviet Encyclopedia]. Vol. 46. 2nd ed. Moscow: State Scientific Publishing House. pp. 121–122.
^Moll, Herman (1701).A System Of Geography: Or, A New & Accurate Description Of The Earth In all its Empires, Kingdoms and States. Illustrated with History and Topography, And Maps of every Country, Fairly Engraven on Copper, according to the latest Discoveries and Corrections. London. p. 442.
^abMądzik, Marek (1973). "Z dziejów polskiego handlu na pobrzeżu Morza Czarnego w końcu XVIII w.".Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Skłodowska (in Polish).28: 212.
^Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Tom I (in Polish). Warszawa. 1880. p. 571.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Первая Всеобщая перепись населения Российской империи, 1897 г. (in Russian). Vol. XLVII. 1904. pp. 90–95.
^"Херсон" [Kherson]. In Zhukov, E. M., ed. (1974).Советская историческая энциклопедия [Soviet Historical Encyclopedia]. Vol. 15. Moscow: State Scientific Publishing House. pp. 504–506, 571–573.
^abWerth, Nicolas (2019). "Chap. 5: 1918–1921. Les pogroms des guerres civiles russes" [The pogroms of the Russian civil wars].Le cimetière de l'espérance. Essais sur l'histoire de l'Union soviétique (1914–1991) [Cemetery of Hope. Essays on the History of the Soviet Union (1914–1991)]. Collection Tempus (in French). Perrin.ISBN978-2-262-07879-9.
^ab"Kherson".www.encyclopediaofukraine.com.Archived from the original on 30 October 2023. Retrieved1 November 2023.
^Strasz, Małgorzata, ed. (2020).Zbrodnia katyńska (in Polish). Warsaw:IPN. p. 17.ISBN978-83-8098-825-5.
^Koval'chuk, Vladimir.Богдан – загадочный брат Степана Бандеры [Bohdan is the mysterious brother of Stepan Bandera].День [Dyen'], No. 30, 20 February 2009.
^Нові райони: карти + склад [New areas: maps + composition] (in Ukrainian). Ministry of Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine. 17 July 2020.Archived from the original on 2 March 2021. Retrieved26 September 2021.
^Newton, Andrew."SCORE Index".www.scoreforpeace.org.Archived from the original on 1 September 2022. Retrieved10 August 2022.
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