According to information from DeepState, the past week’s events could have led to the complete loss of Huliaipole as early as this month.
Everything began with the loss of Poltavka and Uspenivka, which we reported earlier. After several unsuccessful attempts to retake the lost positions, a decision was made for one of the assault units to urgently fortify new defensive lines south of Novouspenivske. At the same time, the 102nd Territorial Defence Brigade, which had been holding relatively steadily on the right flank — though with some withdrawals — continued to restrain the enemy.
When Russian forces broke through the left-flank neighbours of the 102nd, infiltrating enemy groups appeared on its flank and rear. Simultaneously, one of the battalions of the 102nd Territorial Defence Brigade lost command and control, leaving the personnel without direction. Confused and without orders, almost two companies began leaving the area around Zelenyi Hai and Vysoke in small groups.
Anticipating the risks, the command had already diverted additional forces from the 225th Separate Assault Battalion and a mechanised brigade, which began rapidly establishing a new defensive line directly in front of Huliaipole. Amid the unauthorised withdrawal and resulting chaos, several cases of friendly fire were recorded. After the situation was reviewed, covering groups were deployed to stabilise the line. Unfortunately, five soldiers from one such group were captured and executed by Russian forces west of Zelenyi Hai yesterday.
To illustrate the extent of the confusion, the day before, in a rear-area treeline, a Russian sabotage group captured and executed four Ukrainian pilots.
As of now, thanks to coordinated actions by the Southern Operational Command, the 225th Assault Battalion, and other units, the situation has largely stabilised — chaos within the defensive lines has almost completely subsided, the enemy has significantly slowed its movement toward Huliaipole, and a new defensive perimeter has been established.
Due to the public outcry surrounding these events, law enforcement agencies and the military ombudsman are now involved. They are conducting evaluations to determine the actual circumstances of what happened.