Ukraine's new defense minister went to Kherson Oblast days after Russia destroyed the heat of its main city. Yevhenii Khmara visited the region and met the head of the regional military administration, Oleksandr Prokudin, to discuss the region's most urgent needs, the Defense Ministry reported.

Russia hit the Kherson combined heat and power plant with a glide bomb on 26 August, then struck it again overnight with four more, destroying all the heat- and power-generating equipment that remained, Naftogaz said.

Prokudin has urged residents to leave, warning the city may go without heat and power through the winter. He said that Russia has dropped 170 glide bombs on the oblast since 1 July, more than in the entire first half of 2026.

Air defense topped the agenda

Khmara and Prokudin discussed strengthening defenses against various types of drones and protection against aerial bombs, as well as the safety of roads and critical infrastructure, which are being attacked by Russians day and night. They also addressed giving troops in this direction more capacity to strike the Russian targets that threaten civilians and soldiers.

The needs match the threat Prokudin has described. No region of Ukraine currently has the means to shoot down jet-powered Shaheds or glide bombs, he said, and Russia has begun using both more heavily against Kherson's infrastructure.

The minister met marines and the wounded

Khmara spoke with commanders and troops of the 30th Marine Corps operating on the Prydniprovskyi direction, the ministry said. The talks covered financial support for combat units and larger purchases of strike systems.

"We have taken up the soldiers' requests that need Defense Ministry decisions," the ministry said.

Khmara also visited a medical facility treating wounded troops and presented state awards.

The ministry frames it as direct contact

The Defense Ministry said it plans to keep working directly with troops and the leadership of front-line regions to strengthen the Defense Forces and protect Ukrainian lives.

Bulgaria will add seven minehunter ships to its navy under two agreements with Belgium and the Netherlands, Reuters reported. Parliament cleared the acquisition on 26 August, and the vessels are meant for a sea where mines have drifted since Russia invaded Ukraine. They will work within a three-country task force whose mission widened this summer beyond mine clearance.

Russia's invasion turned the Black Sea into hostile water for civilian shipping: mines drift out of the fighting, strikes fall on port after port, and grain leaves through whatever routes are still open. Mine clearance is the slow work that keeps those lanes usable at all, and every hull committed to it widens the area the navies bordering that sea can actually cover.

What parliament approved

Three of the hulls come through a sale the Netherlands agreed with Sofia, and they carry the gear for locating mines and mine-like objects and blowing them up. The remaining four arrive under a three-way handover deal signed by the two donor countries and the recipient, according to Reuters.

Before the three sale ships change hands, the Dutch will put their systems back in working order and raise how much they can do at sea. The bill for the yard work on all seven, up to the level the alliance requires, falls to the buyer. Alongside the ships, a signed memorandum provides for training the crews and supplying spares and extra kit.

Belgium and the Netherlands, together with the UK, handed Ukraine five mine countermeasure vessels in April, described at the time as the core of a future large-scale Black Sea clearance operation. 

A task force that grew

Bulgaria, Romania, and Türkiye signed the agreement creating a joint Mine Countermeasures Task Group in January 2024, and the group began work that summer. Three other states hold coastline on the same sea: Georgia, Russia, and Ukraine.

"Bulgaria is part of the mine countermeasures group established together with our colleagues from Türkiye and Romania, and it is working in excellent coordination to clear the maritime areas of the three countries," Bulgarian Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said.

At a NATO summit in July, the three agreed to expand the force so it also protects critical infrastructure. Romania's national defense strategy had already flagged risks to Black Sea infrastructure.