Putin must tread carefully amid hyped up expectations of breakthrough

Goal of European leaders at White House meeting was to try to push the Russian leader into a corner

The mood in the White House on Monday was strikingly upbeat.

Nato’s ever-cheerful secretary general, Mark Rutte, set the tone as he addressed Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the gathered European leaders. “Let’s make the best out of today,” he said with a smile, before repeatedly thanking the US president for his attention to the war in Ukraine.

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