A gift any Russian leader could only dream of is in Putin’s grasp – a NATO without US military support

In a strictly military sense, the war in Ukraine is not going so badly for Kyiv. Russian territorial gains on the ground have slowed to a crawl since last November for which they are losing, on average, some 1,500 men every day. They have almost – but still not quite – taken Toretsk. And after months of being on the verge of overwhelming the other key strategic towns of Chasiv Yar and Pokrovsk, Russian forces still remain outside them. Russia’s massive air bombing campaign against the Ukrainian power grid, its critical infrastructure and civilian targets has not brought Kyiv to…