New Commander Of The Russian Forces Assess The Tensions In The Field Of War And The Susceptibility Of The Situation In South Ukraine

Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu, Chief of the Russian Military Staff General Valery Gerasimov, President Vladimir Putin, and General Sergei Surovidin. (Wikimedia Commons/Relise

JAKARTA - The new commander of Russian troops to lead special military operations in Ukraine has made rare recognitions, saying the tension of the situation on the battlefield and difficulties in the southern region of Kherson is due to pressure from Kyiv forces to retake Moscow's occupied territory.

And as another sign of Russia's concern about the situation on the ground eight months after the invasion, the head of the Kremlin's inaugurated southern Kherson strategic region on Tuesday announced a "organized gradual transfer" from civilians from four cities on the Dnipro River.

Russian troops in the southern region of Kherson have stepped back 20-30 km (13-20 miles) in recent weeks, at risk of being caught on the west bank of the 2,200 kilometers (1,367 miles) of the Dnipro River that divides Ukraine.

"The situation in the 'Special Military Operations' area can be described as tense," Sergei Surovikin, a Russian air force general appointed this month to take over, told state-owned television news channel Rossiya 24, reported Reuters, October 19.

About Kherson, General Surovikin said: "The situation in this area is difficult. The enemy deliberately attacked infrastructure and residential buildings in Kherson."

The positions of Russian troops in Kupiansk and Lyman in eastern Ukraine, as well as the area between Mykolaiv and Kryvyi Rih in Kherson Province, are referred to by General Surovidin as places that continue to be attacked.

He appears to recognize the danger that Ukrainian troops are advancing towards the city of Kherson, which is located near Dnipro's mouth on the west bank, and it is difficult for Russia to supply from the east as the main bridge across Dnipro has been badly damaged by Ukrainian bombings.

In addition, General Surovikin also talked about preparations for the evacuation of civilians from Russia's occupied Kherson. According to him, "Russian soldiers guarantee safe population evacuation from Kherson," as quoted by Ukrinform.

Russia captured the city largely without a fight in the early days of the invasion, and it remains the only major Ukrainian city that Moscow forces have captured in its entirety.

Kherson himself is one of the four partially occupied Ukrainian provinces Russia claims has been annexed, and arguably the most strategically important. It controls the only land route to the Crimean peninsula that Russia seized in 2014 and Dnipro's mouth.

After holding a referendum in September that Ukraine said was a fraud and coercion, Putin declared the annexation of eastern border provinces Donetsk and Luhansk, an important industrial area known as Donbas, as well as Kherson and Zaporizhia in the south.

It is known that General Surovikin was nicknamed the 'General Armegeddon' in Russian media after serving in Syria and Syria, where his forces raided cities into rubble in a brutal but effective scorched earth policy against their enemies.

His appointment was soon followed by a wave of missile attacks against Ukraine on October 10, becoming the largest since the start of the war.

Both Ukraine and Russia have denied targeting civilians, although Kyiv has accused Moscow forces of war crimes.