Striking photos of the Ukraine war's front-line trenches echo scenes from the World Wars

• Ukrainian and Russian forces have dug sprawling trenches along the front lines of the war. 
• The trenches echo scenes from bloody combat of World War 1 and World War 2.
• Take a look at photos comparing trench warfare in Ukraine today and the historic World Wars. 

As Ukraine's troops go head-to-head with the Russian army, they face plenty of modern weapons, such as drones that can drop bombs on soldiers, Ka-52 attack helicopters armed to the teeth with anti-tank guided missiles, and precision munitions that can hit with accuracy not seen in past conflicts.

Both sides are also navigating threats and challenges that have long been a part of land warfare, like overwhelming artillery and minefields full of anti-tank and anti-personnel mines, threats hidden in the mud that erupt with a violent explosion when triggered and make any sort of advance tricky and time-consuming. 

There are also sprawling trenches. They run deep along the front lines and have been seen in photos from the war, such as around Bakhmut, which saw some of the bloodiest fighting of the war. The trenches are, as a French photographer described them years earlier, "endless bowels of Earth."

These winding trenches hinder advances by enemy troops and protect defenders, zig-zagging and crossing the battlefield, and in some respects, they're strikingly reminiscent of scenes of trench warfare from World War I and World War II, showing the enduring presence of this type of fighting. 

The following photos show the front-line trenches in Ukraine today, where the most devastating land war in decades is being fought, and those of two of the 20th century's worst conflicts. 

Trenches have been an aspect of land warfare throughout history, but they're perhaps most known for their use in World War I.

Today, Ukrainian and Russian soldiers rely heavily on trenches, positioning themselves in dug out areas along the front lines.

In World War I, soldiers dug out the earth, surrounding it with dangerous barbed wire. Sandbags and wooden planks were positioned along the muddy walls.

Ukraine's trenches look similar — dug out dirt, wooden plank "duckboards" to keep out water and mud, and sandbags to fortify the walls.

In World War II, trenches remained an element of combat. In the run-up to the conflict, troops could be seen practicing how to attack enemies inside trenches and defend themselves from potential assaults.

Trenches allow troops to position themselves inside and fire at enemy positions while remaining mostly covered.

In Ukraine today, infantryman employ a certain degree of camouflage to remain hidden while on the lookout.

In some cases, troops in Ukraine use a dummy or mannequin to draw enemy fire, either diverting it away from real soldiers or to locate the position of an enemy sniper. It's a tactic that also saw use during the World Wars.

Trenches have long protected troops from artillery and weaponry on the front lines, such as the devastating machine guns of World War I, though a direct hit from indirect fire can be catastrophic.

But to mount larger assaults, troops had to exit their trenches and enter "no-man's land" between their trench lines and the enemy's. Here, advancing troops were easy targets, and casualties were high. Assaults on enemy trenches were also brutal, just as they have at times been in Ukraine.

Today, troops fight with a greater variety of weapons. Ukrainian soldiers, for instance, can fire shoulder-launched weapons, like what appears to be a RGW-90 long-range multi-purpose weapon in the picture below, from trenches, devastating a variety of targets and hidden enemy positions.

But life inside trenches also had and continues to have its slow moments. Troops sleep, eat, and catch up on the news in them today just as they did decades earlier.

In many respects, life is similar for Ukrainian soldiers positioned on the front lines.

But there's always a certain degree of anxiety as well about what may come. In WWII, troops had to remain on the lookout for any sign of enemy forces.

Today, a lot has — and hasn't — changed.