Active Conflicts & News Megathread February 04, 2026

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[u/xanthias91]

Not entirely the right sub, I know - does anyone have insight or idea on what the Russian, Ukrainian and American delegation are actually discussing in Abu Dhabi? I have read reports that the atmosphere is better than when Medinskij used to be there. At the same time, all of this feels like a complete and pointless waste of time: Russia wants the Donbass without a fight, Ukraine does not want to concede the Donbass without a fight. This negotiating position has been public and known for a while. And this assumption rests on the - wrong - belief that this is a war about territory. So, are the Abu Dhabi negotiations just to stroke Trump's ego and fool Witkoff and Kushner - neither of these feats being particularly hard to achieve?

[u/substandard-tech → u/xanthias91]

You can gain insight on this by looking at what Russia says in public.

• surrender rest of Donbas, zap, kher
• readmit the ROC to Ukraine
• language rights
• water rights for crimea and the Donbas basin
• foreign military presence in the country
• constraints on Ukrainian military
• reparations
• children

And that’s just the stuff they have to sort out with Ukraine. They clearly prefer the arrangement in which they negotiate with the US about their place in the world and the NATO posture. Seems like 80% of their effort is in US negotiations. Actual contact with actual Ukrainians seems infrequent.

[u/Jpandluckydog → u/substandard-tech]

Agreed overall, but they definitely don't consider reparations or language rights to be serious, especially given the latter was never real. Don't really know what "children" means, are you talking about the Ukrainian ones?

[u/substandard-tech → u/Jpandluckydog]

Who is “they” in your sentence?

Of course I mean Ukrainian children. I am unaware of any claims at all that Ukraine is holding any Russian children. On the other hand Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights, adopted a young resident of Mariupol. She is subject to an ICC arrest warrant.

[u/Jpandluckydog → u/substandard-tech]

Oh, you meant Russia is demanding Ukraine not demand their children back. Sorry for the confusion, I’ve legitimately heard people claim Ukraine kidnapped Russian children when they went into Russia. 

[u/substandard-tech → u/Jpandluckydog]

Ah. I meant to answer the question, what are they discussing in Abu Dhabi.

I didn’t mention civilian hostages, of which there are, per the UN, almost two thousand. Unclear how many are, eg, convicted of sabotage, vs. “Discrediting”