"Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the architect of President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, called President Biden's top military adviser last week and talked about how to manage escalation concerns between the two countries," the New York Times reports.

"The rare phone call took place last Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving and just six days after Russia launched a new, nuclear-capable, intermediate-range ballistic missile at Ukraine that Mr. Putin said was in response to Ukraine's use of American and British weapons to strike deeper into Russia."