“Army Secretary Dan Driscoll will huddle with Russian officials in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday about a peace plan to end the Ukraine war, a rare meeting between the countries’ top military leaders and one that will not include Secretary of State Marco Rubio or other U.S. negotiators,” Politico reports.

Playbook: “It’s no reflection on Driscoll’s abilities to point out, again, that this is an extraordinary assignment. Hollywood script writers would be turned down for such a plot.”

“Negotiating with top-level Russian officials is something for which top Western diplomats train for years. Driscoll has been involved in this process for a matter of days. And the stakes could hardly be higher, with tens of thousands of lives on the line as Europe’s biggest war since 1945 rumbles on.”

“For Europe’s leaders, the weekend began with another threat to their relevance, courtesy of President Trump. Would the Americans really force Ukraine to capitulate, embrace President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and undermine NATO — all without even bothering to consult with them?,” the New York Times reports.

“By Tuesday, the latest diplomatic emergency seemed to have been averted for the moment, if hardly resolved, thanks to a how-to-handle-Trump playbook that European leaders have honed over a year of similar episodes.”

“It started with an October order from President Trump to his national security team: Come up with a plan to end the Ukraine war just as they had halted the fighting in Gaza,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“On a flight back from the Middle East, in the afterglow of brokering a deal between Israel and Hamas, envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner began writing the first draft of what would eventually become a 28-point peace framework to end the four-year war.”

“President Trump has told his advisers he’s planning to speak directly with Nicolás Maduro, even as the U.S. designated the Venezuela president Monday as the head of a terrorist organization,” Axios reports.

“Trump’s decision is an important milestone in his gunboat diplomacy aimed at Venezuela — and could be a sign that U.S. missile strikes or direct military action on land are not imminent.”