With the front lines largely frozen, Russia’s war with Ukraine has turned into a contest of economic endurance. Kyiv has gone after Russia’s oil refineries. Moscow has hit Ukraine’s ports and heavy industries.

Last week, President Trump sided with Russia in this all-important battle when he announced a deal to buy Russian diesel fuel, undercutting U.S. sanctions. European and British officials were stunned by the agreement, which Ukraine has called “a gift” to Vladimir Putin.

But it is just one of several wins Trump has given Russia’s president in recent days. Among the others: He said that Ukraine needed a new leader. He demanded that Ukraine halt its attacks on Russian refineries, with Trump administration officials saying Kyiv owed Washington for its intelligence assistance — which some in the room took as a veiled threat that such assistance could be withheld.

The Great Read: A Ukrainian soldier on the war’s eastern front saw a Russian bomb hurtling toward his hometown on the screen of a live military map. He called his wife, who told him not to worry. Then their call was cut off.

G.O.P. plays defense in once-safe territory

As Democrats grow bullish on flipping seats in reliably red parts of the country, Republicans are triaging their resources to contain a possible blue wave.

Out: Republican super PACs are abandoning their financial support for two incumbent House members seeking re-election in New Jersey and Iowa. And last week, House Republicans’ top super PAC all but ceded the open Nebraska seat currently held by Representative Don Bacon, who is retiring, by withdrawing cash from his district.

In: Republicans are moving money into races they really don’t want to lose. Their main Senate super PAC now plans to spend heavily to protect the seat held by Senator Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, The Wall Street Journal reported. Trump carried Nebraska by more than 20 percentage points two years ago, but voters across the American heartland have been stewing over economic challenges resulting from the Iran war.

It’s part of a broader realignment of the congressional map. President Trump has been holding rallies not only in familiar battlegrounds like Ohio and North Carolina, but also in ruby-red states like Alabama, Texas and Tennessee. And Democrats are spending millions in Kansas, which hasn’t elected a Democratic Senator since 1932, in hopes of defeating Senator Roger Marshall, a Republican whose re-election contest has grown surprisingly competitive.

In other midterm elections news:

Kimberly Guilfoyle resigns

Kimberly Guilfoyle has resigned as the U.S. ambassador to Greece following a string of damaging reports, including one in The Wall Street Journal that she had asked a Republican donor for $100,000 to pay off her credit card debt. The White House had asked her to step down.

Trump told reporters that Guilfoyle “was doing a good job” but that he “didn’t like” what he was reading about her. The president also downplayed his connection to her: “She wasn’t a member of my family,” he said. “She, I guess, dated my son a long time ago.” (Guilfoyle was once engaged to Donald Trump Jr.)

Cornell bans frat parties

Cornell University has banned parties at fraternity houses for the rest of the academic year and will add experienced sexual assault investigators to its police force in response to allegations of a gang rape that have shocked the campus and nation.

The moratorium, which comes days before Homecoming weekend, will allow for a thorough review of fraternity life at Cornell to determine whether it can safely resume, the school’s president, Michael Kotlikoff, said.

Geese in Carnegie Hall?

Carnegie Hall is known for showing off prodigies and chamber orchestras. So how did Cameron Winter, the 24-year-old frontman of the popular, divisive rock band Geese — a guy with a hangdog baritone who likes to troll people on the internet — end up sitting there with a Steinway piano, playing a solo set?

And how did Paul Thomas Anderson, the lauded director of “One Battle After Another,” end up pausing his award-season victory lap to film Winter’s concert? (The film will tour select theaters through January.)

“Explain to me why this is good,” a colleague asked our pop music critic, Lindsay Zoladz. So she did.

‘Gentrified’ seafood

Oysters that were $1 apiece not so long ago are now $4.50. Alaskan red king crab used to fetch $25 to $45 per pound; today, it retails for as much as $160. This past summer, a single king salmon from Alaska’s Copper River cost $2,000.

As climate change makes seafood more expensive, even weeknight staples can get pricey. “The fact that a cod is a delicacy is a huge cultural shift,” said Mark Kurlansky, who wrote a best-selling book about the fish in the late 1990s. “Cod was such an ordinary fish.”

Crazy about Elvis, an ocean away

Elvis Presley never performed outside of North America. So why do so many of his fans party in Wales???

Every September, Elvis aficionados and slick-haired tribute acts flock to the seaside town of Porthcawl to celebrate the King of Rock ’n’ Roll … 4,200 miles away from Graceland, his home in Memphis. Pompadours abound. So do fringes, flared collars and Americana. See more photos, and read how it all came to be.