"We see them and they see us". From muddy trenches close to the key city of Bakhmut, soldiers from the 57th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine claim "the whole frontline here is under our control," as explains Sting, one of the brigade's soldiers. Russia on the other hand has claimed to have surrounded Bakhmut, scene of the most brutal and long battle since the beginning of the war. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES