There is no surprise that the Russians have told Donald Trump they have thousands of Ukrainians surrounded.

Despite the claim being at odds with both Ukrainian military reports and independent expert analysis, it is a way of reinforcing the US president’s belief that the Ukrainians have no cards, encouraging him to apply further pressure on Volodymyr Zelensky.

But the Ukrainian president, like all his countrymen, has seen this movie before.

To understand why the Ukrainians do not trust Vladimir Putin as far as they can throw him, it is worth remembering how he exploited encirclements in the past.