Particular function communication complexity computation
There is a cheap lower bound of $\Omega(r)$ obtained by reduction. Suppose for simplicity that the $r$ dIstinguished coordinates are the first $r$. Let $g(x_1,\ldots,x_r) = f(x_1,\ldots,x_r,0,\ldots,0)$. Your condition on $f$ implies that $g$ satisfies Jukna's condition on $g$, so $g$ has communication complexity $\Omega(r)$. Any protocol for $f$ also works for $g$, so we get a lower bound of $\Omega(r)$ for $f$.