Current Time in Kherson, Ukraine

Kherson stands in southern Ukraine on the right bank of the Dnipro River, some thirty kilometres upstream from the point where the great river empties into the Black Sea. The surrounding country is flat steppe, historically dry but transformed in the twentieth century by irrigation into one of the most productive market gardening regions in Europe. The climate is warm and continental, with hot dry summers, short mild winters and abundant sunshine.

Before 2022 around two hundred and eighty thousand people lived in the city, which is the capital of Kherson Oblast. Its economy was built on shipbuilding, port activity, food processing and agriculture, and it served as an important river and sea harbour with access both to the Black Sea and, via the Dnipro, deep into Ukraine.

The city was founded in 1778 by Prince Grigory Potemkin during the reign of Catherine II, as the first Russian naval base and shipyard on the Black Sea, and it was named after the ancient Greek colony of Chersonesus in Crimea. The first warships of the Black Sea fleet were built here, and the fortress church of Saint Catherine contains Potemkin's tomb. The English prison reformer John Howard died in Kherson in 1790 while investigating an epidemic, and a monument marks his memory. Later the naval role passed to other ports and Kherson became a commercial harbour and an agricultural centre.

The region is famous throughout Ukraine for its produce. Kherson watermelons are a national symbol and appear in markets across the country each summer, and the surrounding fields yield tomatoes, melons, grapes and vegetables in enormous quantities, supported until recently by the canal network fed from the Kakhovka reservoir.

Recent years have been extremely difficult. Kherson was occupied by Russian forces in the first days of the full scale invasion in 2022 and became the only regional capital to be taken; it was liberated by Ukrainian troops in November of that year amid scenes shown around the world. The destruction of the Kakhovka dam upstream in June 2023 caused catastrophic flooding along the Dnipro, damaging homes, farmland and the water supply, and the city has continued to face shelling from across the river. Cultural losses have included the removal of much of the collection of the regional art museum during the occupation.

In calmer times the city's attractions include the eighteenth century Saint Catherine Cathedral and the remains of the fortress walls, the tree lined Suvorov Street, the regional history museum and the parks along the Dnipro embankment. The wider region contains the Askania Nova biosphere reserve with its steppe and free ranging animals, the Oleshky Sands and the Black Sea Biosphere Reserve.

Transport historically relied on the port, the railway to Mykolaiv and Kyiv and the highways towards Odesa and Crimea.

Kherson State University, the technical university and the agrarian university have relocated or continued teaching in adapted form during the war.

Kherson is important as a historic Black Sea port, as the garden of Ukraine and as a city that has come to stand for endurance.