According to a source in the Russian security agencies, Ukrainian troops abandoned their positions in the Gulyaypole area of the Zaporozhye Region in entire units. The source specified that Russian forces there were facing units of the Ukrainian armed forces from the 102nd separate territorial defence brigade, as well as the 33rd, 225th and 425th separate assault regiments.

The source said the level of desertion in Ukrainian ranks was high across all sectors, but with notable differences. On the Zaporozhye and Dnepropetrovsk directions, he stated, incidents most often involve troops leaving their positions, which he described as, in essence, sabotage of the assigned combat mission.

He added that on the Kherson direction, the more frequent pattern was leaving the unit altogether, when soldiers walk away from temporary deployment points and do not return. According to him, unauthorised departures from Ukrainian units occur at every stage, from basic training to positions on the frontline.

Military-focused channels report that the defence of Gulyaypole was held by a large enemy grouping made up of several dozen different units. Analysts now believe that Ukrainian forces will have to fall back 10–15 kilometres beyond the Verkhnyaya Tersa River and build a new defensive line along the T-04-08 and T-08-14 routes towards Orekhov in order to avoid a split in the front and the start of an assault on the southern Zaporozhye stronghold of the Ukrainian armed forces.

On 27 December, Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a meeting at one of the command posts of the combined group of forces, heard a report on the liberation of the towns of Gulyaypole in the Zaporozhye Region and Dimitrov in the DNR. The update was delivered to the Russian leader by Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.