Moscow, 9 November 2022 (dpa/MIA) - Russian troops are withdrawing from the strategically important southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday in Moscow, marking a potentially major blow to the Kremlin's faltering military campaign. Shoigu announced the retreat from the right bank, or western bank, of the Dnipro river in the partially occupied Kherson region. His order was shown on Russian state television. With the withdrawal, Russia loses control of the only Ukrainian regional capital it has captured since its invasion in late February. The city of Kherson in the region of the same name had fallen into Russian hands in March. In September, the region was declared annexed by Russia after a referendum condemned as illegal by the UN and most of the world. Ukraine has repeatedly announced its intention to liberate the city and region of Kherson, with the help of weapons supplied by the West. Over the past several weeks the Ukrainian army has put Russia under intense pressure in Kherson. It has been attacking the region on the right bank of the Dnipro for weeks, slowly shrinking the area Moscow holds as Kiev's forces move in. "The lives and health of Russian Federation soldiers have always been a priority," Shoigu said in justifying the pull-out. The new commander of Russian troops in Ukraine, Sergei Surovikin, reported recent heavy Ukrainian shelling on the city of Kherson and surrounding localities. Kiev has frequently reported major destruction and high casualties on the Russian side in Kherson. The information can not be verified. Speculation of a retreat has been growing, after Surovikin announced in early October that "difficult decisions" would have to be taken in Kherson, which observers interpreted as an indication of a planned withdrawal. The Russian occupiers say they have moved tens of thousands of civilians away from the city of Kherson as Ukrainian troops picked up the pace of their counteroffensive. Kiev has accused Russia of forcibly displacing people. Russia invaded neighbouring Ukraine on February 24. Since then, Russian troops have suffered several major military defeats. One of the biggest debacles from the Kremlin's point of view was the withdrawal from the eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv in mid-September. Earlier on Wednesday, it was reported that the deputy head of the Moscow-appointed administration in Kherson had died. Kirill Stremousov died in a car accident on Wednesday, said Russian occupation chief Vladimir Saldo in a video on Telegram, giving no further details. Russian state news agencies TASS and RIA Novosti also reported the death of the high-profile occupier. Stremousov had long rejected the notion of a withdrawal of Russian forces from Kherson.