Evacuees from Russian-occupied Oleshky arrive in Ukraine-held territory

We also have some breaking news from Russia's war on Ukraine. Evacuees from the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky have crossed back into Ukrainian-held territory. They've returned after a long journey through Russia and Belarus as part of a major relief operation. CBC's Julia Chapman is following that story from London. Julia. Yeah, that's right, Natasha. There have been emotional scenes on the Ukrainian side of the border with Belarus as some of those Oleshki residents returned to Ukrainian soil for the first time in quite some time because they've been living under Russian occupation since pretty much the beginning of the war. They have been describing the challenging conditions they've been living under in the town, the lengths that they would have to go to to access food. And a freelancer working with CBC News Speaking to some of them, including 43-year-old Irina, she describes how she lived with her nine-year-old daughter in Oleshki with very little food, saying at times they were just living off zucchinis and salad. And she says she also feared that her daughter could be taken away from her because the conditions they were living in were so dire. Take a listen. Because lately... Lately, she has been living in a house and a yard, and even on the bazaar, nowhere, and it was very dangerous, that's why the child was sitting either at home or in the yard, and that was it. There was a very long and roundabout journey for those residents to get back to Ukraine. They had to travel through Russian-occupied Crimea, down to southern Russia, where they flew to Belarus, and finally... But there was a splinter group that remained inside Russian-held territory. People were given the choice of destination, but it's still not clear how many went to each country. President Volodymyr Zelensky has welcomed this moment. He says he thanks the American side and the U.S. First Lady Melania Trump for their mediation. She was involved in brokering the ceasefire that paved the way for this. Zelensky goes on to say when the world pays attention, people are rescued. Further steps toward de-escalation and real progress toward peace are also needed. There were thought to be hundreds of people who stayed behind in Oleshki, fearful of making the journey or thinking they just couldn't handle it. They've been left with aid supplies, but no guarantee of future ones. And the ceasefire that brought this all about will come to an end tomorrow night, Natasha. Okay, well, with that in mind, we should also note that this is the first operation of its kind after four plus years of war. Even though the ceasefire is coming to a conclusion, is there any potential that this would be replicated again? It is a significant moment and it has really demonstrated a surprisingly high level of cooperation between Russia and Ukraine, the likes of which we really haven't seen in this war. Both representatives who've been coordinating this from Russia and Ukraine have spoken of their hope that it can be replicated in other parts of the front line. Yesterday, the Kremlin said that there shouldn't be too much read into this, that it is something that will not be extrapolated to to the broader peace process. But Dmitry Lubenets, the Ukrainian... Ukrainian human rights representative says it's important to him that Oleshki doesn't remain an isolated incident. CBC's Julia Chapman in London. Thank you, Julia. You're welcome.