iCloud images downloaded to my PC resulted in empty zip folders.

I recently downloaded a bunch of images from iCloud on the web to my PC. The files downloaded to zip folders but they were empty after unzipping. Am I missing something or are my images gone? I stupidly deleted the photos after downloading as the intent was to put the images on my PC and clear them from iCloud. I have also surpassed the time you are allowed to recover deleted files.