World
Ukraine accepts demilitarised zone to end Russia war, but do DMZs work?
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Kyiv is willing to turn the parts of the Donbas region that his troops currently control into a demilitarised zone (DMZ) if Russia also commits to keeping its soldiers out of this eastern region of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy’s comments represent Ukraine’s biggest territorial concession so far as he faces mounting pressure from both Russian military advances and United States President Donald Trump to agree to a ceasefire with Moscow.
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The Ukrainian president also spoke of a second DMZ near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest, which is currently controlled by Russia. The DMZ proposals, he said, were part of a 20-point peace plan seeking the end of the Ukraine war that Zelenskyy on Tuesday said was backed by the US.
Here is what we know about the plan and whether demilitarised zones could work in Ukraine:
What is the 20-point peace plan?
Zelenskyy unveiled the plan in a two-hour briefing with journalists, reading aloud from a highlighted and annotated copy. The plan was formulated by negotiators from Washington and Kyiv in Florida over the weekend.
Here’s where negotiations stand on key issues:
- Ukraine’s NATO membership: Russia has insisted from the start of the war that it will not accept Ukraine as a part of NATO. The Trump administration, too, has made clear that Ukraine must give up its hopes of joining the military alliance. But Ukraine continues to resist pressure to introduce constitutional amendments explicitly stating that it will stay neutral and not seek NATO membership. “It is the choice of NATO members whether to have Ukraine or not,” Zelenskyy said on Tuesday. “Our choice has been made. We moved away from the proposed changes to the Constitution of Ukraine that would have prohibited Ukraine from joining NATO.”
- Territorial concessions: Zelenskyy said any proposal requiring Ukraine to withdraw its troops would have to be approved through a national referendum. Ukraine has repeatedly pointed to its constitution, which prevents the government from changing the country’s borders on its own. But many analysts believe that Ukraine might need to settle for a middle path – not recognising Russian-occupied regions officially while acknowledging that it does not actually control them.
- Elections: Zelenskyy said Ukraine would hold a presidential election only after a peace agreement is signed. US President Donald Trump has been pushing for elections in Ukraine while Russia has used the absence of elections during the war to question Zelenskyy’s legitimacy.
- Demilitarised zones: Zelenskyy said any areas that Ukraine pulls out from will become DMZs, which he also called free trade zones. “They are looking for a demilitarised zone or a free economic zone, meaning a format that could satisfy both sides,” he said on Tuesday, referring to US negotiators.
What are the proposed DMZs in Ukraine?
Russia has demanded full control of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which constitute the Donbas, historically Ukraine’s industrial belt.
Its troops currently control almost all of Luhansk and 70 percent of Donetsk.
The latest proposal would involve Ukrainian soldiers pulling out of the territory in the Donbas that they control – as long as Russia does not seek to occupy the region. Instead, that region is to become a DMZ.
Meanwhile, in Zaporizhzhia, Russian troops are in control of a nuclear plant that Ukraine has tried – so far in vain – to get back.
The latest proposal suggests turning the region around the nuclear plant into a DMZ, too.
But it is unclear how the proposed DMZs – if both sides were to agree to them – would be governed, who might ensure that both sides play by the rules and how resources there, such as the nuclear plant, could be shared.
“It’s a point in the plan that is supposed to satisfy both sides,” Marina Miron, an analyst at King’s College London, told Al Jazeera.
“However, I don’t see how this is going to function because in Ukraine Zelenskyy said that Russia would have to withdraw its forces, and we’re talking about the Donbas, and I don’t see that happening, especially if Russia is winning on the battlefield.”
Miron explained that Ukraine designating demilitarised zones in this peace plan was a tactic by Kyiv to signal that it was ready for peace, thereby pushing “the diplomatic burden on Russia”.
Has Russia responded?
Moscow has not accepted or rejected the latest peace plan so far.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that Russia was “formulating its position” on the plan. He did not comment on the specifics of the plan.
What are other demilitarised zones in the world?
Several DMZs exist. They include:
Korean Demilitarized Zone
The Korean DMZ is a 4km-wide (2.5-mile-wide) buffer zone separating North Korea and South Korea.
It was established in 1953 after the signing of an armistice ended the fighting of the Korean War.
The war had broken out in June 1950 when North Korean forces crossed the 38th parallel and invaded South Korea in an attempt to reunify the peninsula.
Korea was temporarily divided at the 38th parallel by the US and the Soviet Union after World War II. This division placed Kim Il Sung’s Soviet-backed Workers’ Party of Korea in control of the North and the US-supported Syngman Rhee government in control in the South.
The conflict lasted three years with Soviet- and Chinese-backed North Korean troops fighting against US-led United Nations forces. It killed an estimated two million people and devastated cities and villages on both sides.
The war concluded with an armistice signed by the US, China and North Korea, but South Korea refused to agree, and no formal peace treaty was ever concluded. More than 70 years later, the two Koreas remain technically at war.
UN Disengagement Observer Force Zone in the Golan Heights
The UN established a narrow strip of land as a DMZ in the Golan Heights in 1974 after the war that year between Israel and Syria and an armistice signed by the two countries.
The broader Golan Heights is a rocky patch of land that under international law belongs to Syria. Israel captured it during the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed it in 1982 in a move recognised only by the US.
The Observer Force Zone separates Israeli-occupied territory from the remaining part of the Golan Heights that is still under Syria’s control. The zone is still monitored by UN peacekeepers.
Sinai Peninsula demilitarised zones
DMZs were established in the Sinai Peninsula as part of the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty. The treaty divided the Sinai Peninsula into four security zones with different military restrictions.
These zones are monitored by an international peacekeeping force called the Multinational Force and Observers.
Aland Islands
The Aland Islands are a small archipelago in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland. They are an autonomous, Swedish-speaking region of Finland.
They have been demilitarised since 1921 as per a decision by the now nonexistent League of Nations. Finland and Sweden took the issue to the league because in the early 20th century, the islands were part of Finland, which gained independence from the Russian Empire in 1917.
After this, many Alanders wanted to reunite with Sweden, which spurred tensions.
Antarctica
Antarctica has been established as a demilitarised zone under the 1959 Antarctic Treaty.
This forbids military activity and nuclear testing, ensuring the continent is used exclusively for peaceful purposes and scientific research.
This is because several nations had made overlapping territorial claims in Antarctica, raising fears of future conflicts.
Preah Vihear Temple
The Thailand-Cambodia border, shaped by French colonial-era delineation, contains ambiguous boundaries and overlapping claims.
These disputes have grown more contentious as both countries strengthened their institutions and the strategic value of certain areas increased.
One of the contested zones is the culturally significant Preah Vihear Temple from the Khmer Empire, which is symbolically important to both nations. In 1962, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that the temple belonged to Cambodia.
Disputes erupted from 2008 to 2011, marked by exchanges of artillery fire, mass displacements and duelling legal interpretations of the ICJ ruling.
In 2011, the ICJ ordered a provisional demilitarised zone around the temple.
Have DMZs worked before?
DMZs have been considerably successful in some cases, such as in the case of the Koreas.
The zone between North and South Korea has prevented the two from large-scale military conflict.
On the other hand, violence has broken out between Thailand and Cambodia this year over their border dispute, killing nearly 100 people in July and December and displacing about a million, according to official counts. The two countries reported new clashes on Wednesday.
In other cases, such as in the Golan Heights or Sinai Peninsula, demilitarised zones have prevented direct, large-scale clashes.
However, Israel has repeatedly violated the Golan Heights buffer zone, especially over the past year, using the chaos after the ouster of former President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 to grab territory and expel Syrian families. The UN has criticised Israel’s DMZ violations.
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The European Commission has announced it is looking into cases of sexually suggestive and explicit images of young girls generated by Grok, the AI chatbot integrated into social media platform X, following the introduction of a paid feature known as “Spicy Mode” last summer.
“I can confirm from this podium that the Commission is also very seriously looking into this matter,” a Commission spokesperson told journalists in Brussels on Monday.
“This is not ‘spicy’. This is illegal. This is appalling. This is disgusting. This has no place in Europe.”
On Sunday, in response to growing anger and alarm at the images, the social media platform said the images had been removed from the platform and that the users involved had been banned.
“We take action against illegal content on X, including Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), by removing it, permanently suspending accounts, and working with local governments and law enforcement as necessary,” the X Safety account posted.
Similar investigations have been opened in France, Malaysia and India.
The European Commission also referenced an episode last November in which Grok generated Holocaust denial content. The Commission said it had sent a request for information under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), and that it is now analysing the response.
In December, X was fined €120 million under the DSA over its handling of account verification check marks and its advertising policy.
“I think X is very well aware that we are very serious about DSA enforcement. They will remember the fine that they have received from us,” said the EU Commission spokesperson.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Sure, Nvidia, AMD and Intel all had important chip and AI platform announcements on the first day of CES 2026, but all audiences wanted to see more of was Star Wars and Jensen Huang’s little robot buddies.
CES is a huge opportunity annually for companies both large and small to parade products they plan to put on shelves this year. And, as predicted, artificial intelligence was anchored in nearly everything as tech firms continue to look for AI products that will attract customers.
AP has been on the ground looking at booths and covering big announcements, here is a roundup of the highlights we saw on the first day of CES.
Nvidia gets physical
The biggest buzzword in the air at CES is “physical AI,” Nvidia’s term for AI models that are trained in a virtual environment using computer generated, “synthetic” data, then deployed as physical machines once they’ve mastered their purpose.
CEO Jensen Huang showed off Cosmos, an AI foundation model trained on massive datasets, capable of simulating environments governed by actual physics. He also announced Alpamayo, an AI model specifically designed for autonomous driving. Huang revealed that Nvidia’s next generation AI superchip platform, dubbed Vera Rubin, is in full production, and that Nvidia has a new partnership with Siemens. All of this shows Nvidia is going to fight increased competition to retain its reputation as the backbone of the AI industry.
But once Huang called for two little, waddling, chirping robots to join him on stage, that’s all the audience wanted to see more of.
The chips are back in town
AMD CEO Lisa Su announced a new line of its famed Ryzen AI processors as the company continues to expand its footprint in the world of AI-powered personal computers.
For gamers, AMD also showed off the latest version of its gaming-focused processor, the AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D.
Meanwhile, Intel announced its new AI chip for laptops, Panther Lake (also known as the Intel Core Ultra Series 3), and said the company has plans to launch a new platform to address a growing market for handheld video gaming machines.
Intel, a Silicon Valley pioneer that enjoyed decades of growth as its processors powered the personal computer boom, fell into a slump after missing the shift to the mobile computing era unleashed by the iPhone. It fell further behind after the AI boom propelled Nvidia into the spotlight.
President Donald Trump’s administration stepped in recently to secure a 10% stake in the company, making the government one of Intel’s biggest shareholders. Federal officials said they invested in Intel to support U.S. technology and domestic manufacturing.
Uber dives back into the robotaxi game
Uber is giving the public a first look at their robotaxi at this CES this week. Uber, along with luxury electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid Motors and vehicle tech company Nuro, introduced an autonomous vehicle with an Uber-designed in-cabin experience.
Uber calls it the most luxurious robotaxi yet. It features cameras, sensors and radars that provide 360-degree perception and a low-profile roof “halo” with integrated LEDs that will display riders’ initials to help them spot their car and track their ride status. Inside, riders can personalize everything from climate and seat heating to music, while real-time visuals show exactly what the vehicle is seeing on the road and the route it plans to take.
Autonomous on-road testing began last month in San Francisco, led by Nuro, marking a major step toward what the companies said is a planned launch before the end of the year.
Star Wars and Lego announce new a partnership
When Lucasfilm chief creative officer David Filoni brought out an array of X-Wing pilots, Chewbacca, R2D2 and C-3PO, he won the Star Wars fandom for Lego.
Lego announced its Lego Smart Play platform on Monday, which introduces new smart bricks, tags and special minifigs for your collection. The new bricks contain sensors that enable them to sense light and distance, and to provide an array of responses, essentially lights and sounds, when they are used in unison.
Combine this with a newly announced partnership with the Star Wars franchise and now you can create your own interactive space battles and light-saber duels.
LG reveals a new robot to help around the home
File this one under intrigued, for now.
The Korean tech giant gave the media a glimpse Monday of its humanoid robot that is designed to handle household chores such as folding laundry and fetching food. Although many companies have robots on display at CES, LG certainly is one of the biggest tech companies to promise to put a service robot in homes.
It will be on display — and we assume demonstrating some of its purported abilities — beginning Tuesday, so we’ll have more to report soon.
What’s new with lollipops?
Music you can taste was on display Monday at CES: Lollipop Star unveiled a candy that plays music while you eat it. The company says it uses something called “bone induction technology,” which lets you hear songs — like tracks from Ice Spice and Akon — through the lollipop as you lick it or bite it in the back of your mouth, according to spokesperson Cassie Lawrence.
The musical lollipops will go on sale after CES on Lollipop Star’s website for $8.99 each. And if that wasn’t enough star power, Akon was expected to visit the company’s booth Tuesday when CES opens to the public.
Atlas holds up Hyundai’s (manufacturing) world
Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics publicly demonstrated its humanoid robot Atlas for the first time at the CES tech showcase, ratcheting up a competition with Tesla and other rivals to build robots that look like people and do things that people do.
The company said a version of the robot that will help assemble cars is already in production and will be deployed by 2028 at Hyundai’s electric vehicle manufacturing facility near Savannah, Georgia.
Delta gets spherical
Delta Air Lines is taking entertainment to new heights as the “official airline” of the Sphere in Las Vegas. The airline announced a new multiyear partnership with Sphere Entertainment Co. that it says will deliver premium experiences to the venue, including a Delta SKY360° Club lounge.
The carrier said SkyMiles members can unlock exclusive access to other experiences at the Sphere, starting during the final weekend of the Backstreet Boys’ residency in February with features including private suite seating, food and beverages. The partnership brings Delta branding to the Sphere’s massive exterior LED screen. Delta says more exclusive SkyMiles experiences will roll out in 2026 and beyond.
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Iran’s government has said its citizens will be given a monthly payment equivalent to about $7 to ease economic pressures as protests spread across the country, according to reports.
The announcement was reported to have been made on Monday by the government spokesperson, Fatemeh Mohajerani, on Iranian State TV.
She said the measure was aimed at “preserving households” purchasing power, controlling inflation and ensuring food security,” per The New York Times.
The outlet also said the plan represents a shift away from long-standing import subsidies toward direct assistance for citizens.
IRAN CRACKDOWN RATTLES MIDDLE EAST AS ANALYSTS WEIGH US OPTIONS SHORT OF MILITARY INTERVENTION
A protester faces Iranian security forces during clashes amid nationwide unrest, according to images released by the Iranian opposition group National Council of Resistance of Iran. (NCRI )
Under the proposal, roughly $10 billion that had been spent each year to subsidize certain imports, will now be given directly to the public.
Eligible Iranians will get one million Iranian tomans, which is around $7, and in the form of credit that can be used to buy goods.
The labor minister said the payments would be handed out to about 80 million people, which is the majority of Iran’s population.
PROTESTS SPREAD ACROSS IRAN AS REGIME THREATENS US FORCES AS ‘LEGITIMATE TARGETS’ AFTER TRUMP WARNING
Protesters march in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (Fars News Agency via AP)
Iran’s economy has been hit by sanctions and declining oil revenues which have led to protests.
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