List of cities in Kherson Oblast

There are nine populated places in Kherson Oblast, Ukraine, that have been officially granted city status (Ukrainian: місто, romanized: misto) by the Verkhovna Rada, the country's parliament.^[2] Settlements with more than 10,000 people are eligible for city status, although the status is also granted to settlements of historical or regional importance.^[3][4][5] As of 5 December 2001, the date of the first and only official census in the country since independence,^[a] the most populous city in the oblast was the regional capital, Kherson, with a population of 328,360 people, while the least populous city was Tavriisk, with 11,452 people.^[6][7] Following the passing of decommunization laws, one city within the oblast, Oleshky, was renamed in 2016 from its previous name, Tsiurupynsk, for its connection with people, places, events, and organizations associated with the Soviet Union.^{[b][10][11][12]} Prior to 2020, four cities in the oblast were designated as cities of regional significance (municipalities), which had self-government under city councils, while the oblast's remaining five cities were located amongst the oblast's eighteen raions (districts) as cities of district significance, which are subordinated to the governments of the raions.^[7][13][14] On 18 July 2020, an administrative reform abolished and merged the oblast's raions and cities of regional significance into five new, expanded raions.^[c][3][17] The five raions that now make up the oblast are Beryslav, Henichesk, Kakhovka, Kherson, and Skadovsk.^[24]

Location of cities in Kherson Oblast, with red dots indicating Russian-occupied cities and green dots indicating Ukrainian-controlled cities.^[1]

After 24 February 2022, during Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, all cities in the oblast were occupied by Russian troops, including the capital, Kherson, making it the only regional capital to be captured during the invasion.^[25][26][27] Following the 2022 Kherson counteroffensive, the oblast's territory to the west of the Dnipro river, including the cities of Beryslav and Kherson, was recovered by Ukraine,^[21][22] while the oblast's seven cities to the east of the river have remained occupied by Russian forces.^[25] For its contributions to the country's defense during the invasion, Kherson was awarded the honorary title Hero City of Ukraine in 2022.^[28][29] The destruction of the Kakhovka Dam on 6 June 2023 heavily impacted the region, with cities along the banks of the Dnipro downriver from the breached dam (Hola Prystan, Kherson, Nova Kakhovka, and Oleshky) experiencing flooding.^[30][31]