Kyiv, Ukraine —

It was not the applause, or the red carpet, or the ride in the Beast, or speaking first on the podium, that were the biggest gifts offered up to Vladimir Putin at the Alaska summit . President Donald Trump’s greatest favor to his Russian counterpart was time.

Russian success or failure on the front line will be measured in a matter of weeks. Putin has until mid-October until the weather cools, ground softens, and advances become harder. That is a full two months. His forces are on the brink of turning painfully incremental and costly micro-advances into “nowhere” villages in eastern Ukraine into a more strategic gain.

Almost every day, another settlement falls . The secondary sanctions Trump has threatened – which would penalize those buying Russian oil and gas – a

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