The new commander of Russian forces in Ukraine made a rare acknowledgement in a video released late on Tuesday of the pressures they were under from Ukrainian offensives to retake southern and eastern areas that Moscow says it annexed just weeks ago, Reuters reports.
In another sign of Russian concern, the Kremlin-installed chief of the strategic southern region of Kherson on Tuesday announced an "organized, gradual displacement" of civilians from four towns on the Dnipro River.
"The situation regarding the 'special military operation' can be described as tense," Sergei Surovikin, the Russian air force general now commanding Russia's military forces in Ukraine.
On Kherson, Surovikin said: "The situation in this area is difficult. The enemy is deliberately striking infrastructure and residential buildings."
Russian forces in the Kherson region have been driven back by 20-30 km (13-20 miles) in the last few weeks and are at risk of being pinned against the western bank of the 2,200-km-long Dnipro river that bisects Ukraine.
