On 16 December, the de facto Ombudsman of Nagorno-Karabakh Artak Beglaryan reported that a subdivision of over 60 Armenian servicemen had gone missing from the direction of Khtsaberd village in the Hadrut region. According to other local sources, 73 soldiers are missing. 

A day earlier, video materials filmed by the Azerbaijani Army regarding the capture of dozens of Armenian servicemen began to appear on social networks and in the media. On the evening of the same day, the press secretary of Karabakh’s de facto President Vahram Poghosyan did not rule out that Azerbaijani sources deliberately spread this information to create additional tension. It was also reported that the parents of the missing Armenian servicemen gathered in front of the country’s Ministry of Defence, broke the door and tried to enter the building. 

The de facto President of Nagorno-Karabakh Arayik Harutunyan also spoke about the issue, saying that it was a “provocation from Azerbaijani soldiers”. He accused Baku of resorting to armed “provocations” around three Armenian-populated villages located southwest of Shusha. According to local de facto officials, Azerbaijani troops advanced towards the villages of Mets Shen, Hin Shen and Yeghtsahogh in recent days, forcing most of the residents to flee their homes.

Harutunyan also spoke on the trilateral agreement from 9 November. He said that the alternative to the agreement was an even greater human and territorial losses for the Armenian side up to the complete loss of control in Karabakh. According to him, there are two more major questions. The first is whether it was possible to end the war earlier with relatively better conditions and less losses, and the second question is whether it was possible to make the Armenian armed forces better prepared for the war. “The answers to these questions are positive, but I will present the details another time,” stated Harutyunyan.