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What the 30 December 2019 security picture showed
Summary
A look back at three security developments reported in the days before 30 December 2019, from a prisoner exchange in Donbas to a Russian weapons announcement.
What did the security picture look like on 30 December 2019, as the year closed? Reports from the preceding days pointed in three directions: a limited step on the Donbas conflict, a Russian military announcement and continuing civilian deaths in Syria.
A prisoner exchange in Donbas
On 29 December 2019, the Ukrainian government and separatist rebels exchanged prisoners under the "all identified for all identified" formula. The formula had been agreed during peace talks in Paris earlier that month. The swap was a concrete outcome of those talks, carried out within weeks of the meeting.
Russia announces a new weapon
On 27 December 2019, Russia's Ministry of Defence announced the first deployment of the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle, calling it a "landmark event". President Vladimir Putin said its top speed exceeded Mach 20 and that it put Russia's military ahead of all other nations. These were Russian claims, made by the ministry and the president.
Civilian toll in Idlib
On 24 December 2019, a war monitor reported that eight people, including five children, were killed when a missile struck a school in Jobas, in Idlib District. The school was being used as a shelter for displaced civilians. Opposition activists blamed Russia. The incident fell within the northwestern Syria offensive, which ran from December 2019 to March 2020.
Reading the three together
The reports differ in scale and place, but each involved Russia or a conflict in which it was a party to the diplomacy or accused of involvement. In Donbas, the exchange showed the Paris understandings producing a result on the ground. The Avangard announcement and the Jobas strike show how the same period combined military signalling with civilian casualties elsewhere.
