A continuous Ukrainian onslaught has pushed Russian soldiers back, putting them at risk of becoming trapped by the Dnieper River

The new commander of Russian forces in Ukraine said that the situation in the Kherson region has become "extremely difficult" as Ukrainian forces press forward with an offensive to retake the country's southern and eastern regions.

However, he added that Moscow is prepared to evacuate people weeks after annexing the region.

Sergei Surovikin, the Russian air force commander appointed to oversee the invasion on 10 October, described the situation in Kherson as "extremely terrible" for both locals and Russian soldiers.

Surovikin told to state broadcaster that "the Russian army will above all secure the safe evacuation of the inhabitants" of Kherson. "The enemy's attempts to attack Russian force positions are not abating," he added.

Russian forces in the region have been pushed back 20 to 30 kilometres in recent weeks, putting them at risk of being pinned against the western bank of Ukraine's 2,200km Dnieper River.

According to Surovikin, Russian strongholds in the eastern Ukrainian towns of Kupiansk and Lyman, as well as the territory of northern Kherson between Mykolaiv and Kryvyi Rih, are under constant attack.

Kherson is one of four partially occupied Ukrainian provinces claimed by Russia as its own, and it is likely the most strategically crucial. It controls the only land route to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia invaded in 2014. It also controls the Dnieper River's mouth.

Putin declared the annexation of the eastern border provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk, which together form the Donbas industrial region, as well as Kherson and Zaporizhia in the south, after holding referendums in September that Ukraine and its supporters believed were unlawful and forced.