Starving residents of a Russian-held town in southern Ukraine began evacuating on Friday as part of a joint relief operation by the opposing sides, the first of its kind in four years and eight months of war.
Under a local ceasefire brokered by US first lady Melania Trump, an aid convoy arrived in the town of Oleshky and people were given the opportunity to leave.
Although it was a striking example of cooperation between the warring sides, the Kremlin described it as a special case that was “difficult to extrapolate” to the wider search for a peace settlement.