DEBChange (DCH), how to fix undocumented behavior?

Question

Debian

We use dpkg to build packages on the project.
dch -v 1.2.3
We get the expected in the changelog:

package (1.2.3) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium                
                                                              
  *                                                             
 -- Maintainer <[email protected]>  Fri, 08 Nov 2019 20:11:21 +0300

Then we do
dch --release
And we get in the changelog:

package (1.2.3) bionic; urgency=medium 
...

instead of

package (1.2.3) unstable; urgency=medium 
...

man dch says it should be unstable.
PS OS: Mint

Answer 1

https://stackoverflow.com/a/58852977/5127037
Summary: This is a bug and a known bug.
Recommended to use
Works.