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What the prisoner exchange meant on 31 December 2019
Summary
A look back at the security picture around 31 December 2019, after a prisoner swap in Donbas and a Russian hypersonic announcement.
What was the security picture in Ukraine's neighbourhood on 31 December 2019? Two reports from the final days of the year frame it.
On 29 December 2019, the Ukrainian government and separatist rebels exchanged prisoners in the war in Donbass. The swap followed the "all identified for all identified" formula, which had been agreed during peace talks in Paris earlier that month.
Two days earlier, on 27 December 2019, Russia's Ministry of Defence announced the first deployment of the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle, calling it a "landmark event". According to President Vladimir Putin, its top speed was over Mach 20, and he said it put Russia's military "ahead of all other nations".
Taken together, the two reports show the year closing with a concrete step in the Donbass talks and a Russian claim of a new military capability. The exchange put into practice a formula agreed at the Paris talks, while the Avangard announcement came from Moscow's defence ministry and the Russian president.
