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What the 29 December 2019 prisoner exchange involved
Summary
A look back at the swap between Kyiv and separatist rebels, and the Russian military announcement that preceded it.
What happened on 29 December 2019 in the war in Donbass? The Ukrainian government and separatist rebels exchanged prisoners, using the "all identified for all identified" formula agreed during peace talks in Paris earlier that month.
The formula meant that each side handed over everyone it had identified as held, rather than negotiating individual names one by one. The exchange put into practice what had been settled at the Paris talks.
A separate announcement two days earlier
On 27 December 2019, two days before the swap, 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 was over Mach 20 and that it put Russia's military ahead of all other nations.
The two developments were separate items in the security news of that week. The prisoner exchange concerned the fighting in eastern Ukraine, while the Avangard announcement concerned Russia's strategic weapons.
