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(NEW YORK) — More than six months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion into neighboring Ukraine, the two countries are engaged in a struggle for control of areas throughout eastern and southern Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose forces began an offensive in August, has vowed to take back all Russian-occupied territory. But Putin in September announced a mobilization of reservists, which is expected to call up as many as 300,000 additional troops.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Dec 05, 10:36 AM EST
Missiles rain on Ukraine after purported drone strikes in Russia

A new barrage of missiles strikes was launched against Ukraine on Monday, hitting targets across the country, including the capital city of Kyiv, officials said.

Casualties and damage from the attacks were being assessed, Ukrainian officials said.

The majority of the missiles were shot down by air defense forces, Ukrainian officials said.

Ukrainian air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said the Russians launched missiles from the Volgodonsk, Caspian and Black seas.

The strikes damaged two infrastructure objects in the Odesa region, leaving the area without electricity and running water, officials said. One person was hospitalized, according to Ukrainian officials.

Odesa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov said a missile hit a substation that supplies the city of Belvaevska’s pumping station with electricity.

According to the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, missile strikes in the Zaporizhzhia region killed two people and injured three others, including a toddler, in the village of Novosofiyivka.

Explosion were also heard in Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi, Kherson and Cherkasy, officials said.

The missile strikes followed reports from Russian media outlets that drones were used to bomb two military air bases in Russia, hundreds of miles from the Ukrainian border.

Ukrainian officials have not claimed responsibility for the drone attacks, but Mykhailo Podolyak, a top adviser to Ukraine’s president, posted a cryptic tweet, saying “if you launch something very often into the airspace of other countries, sooner or later the unknown flying objects will return to the place of departure.”

Dec 02, 2:18 PM EST
No peace talks till Russian soldiers leave, Ukraine says

Ukraine said it would not consider peace talks before the last Russian soldier leaves Ukrainian territory. This comes after President Joe Biden indicating he would be willing to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin if he has legitimate interest in peace negotiations.

Ukraine also said that there must not be any peace negotiations without Ukraine, reiterating that Biden has been clear that there won’t be any talks happening without the participation of U.S. allies and Ukraine.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky

Dec 02, 2:17 PM EST
IAEA expresses optimism over creation of protection zone around Zaporizhzhia

The International Atomic Energy Agency expressed optimism over possibly creating a safe zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant before the end of the year.

“I know that President Putin is following the process, and I do not rule out another meeting with him soon, as well as with Ukrainian President Zelensky,” IAEA Director General Rafael Rossi said in an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

“There is a concrete proposal on securing Zaporizhzhia and important progress has been made. …The two sides now agree on some basic principles. The first is that of protection: it means accepting that you don’t shoot ‘on’ the plant and ‘from’ the plant. The second is the recognition that the IAEA is the only possible way forward: that was the heart of my meeting with President Putin in St. Petersburg on October 11,” Rossi added.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky

Dec 02, 12:27 PM EST
Bloody packages with animal eyes sent to Ukrainian embassies

Packages believed to be blood-soaked and containing the eyes of animals, were sent to Ukrainian embassies worldwide, including in Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Croatia and Italy, the Ukrainian ministry of foreign affairs said Friday.

The entrance to the ambassador’s residence in the Vatican was also vandalized, according to the Ukrainian ministry of foreign affairs.

The Ukrainian embassy in the U.S. received a letter with a photocopy of a critical article about Ukraine. Like most other envelopes, the letter arrived along with others from the territory of an unnamed European country.

“We have reason to believe that a well-planned campaign of terror and intimidation of Ukrainian embassies and consulates is taking place. Not being able to stop Ukraine on the diplomatic front, they are trying to intimidate us. However, I can immediately say that these attempts are useless. We will continue to work effectively for the victory of Ukraine,” the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba said in a statement.

The Ukrainian embassy in Spain received a letter-bomb on Wednesday which was opened and ignited, resulting in one slight injury.

A similar envelope was sent to the U.S. embassy in Madrid, but it was detected before going off, according to Spanish officials.

All Ukrainian embassies and consulates have been placed under heightened security. The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on foreign governments to guarantee maximum protection of Ukraine’s diplomatic institutions.

Dec 01, 3:28 PM EST
Biden ‘prepared to speak with Putin’ if he wants to end war

Speaking at a joint press conference with France’s Emmanuel Macron, President Joe Biden said he would be open to speaking with Vladimir Putin if the Russian leader has legitimate interest in peace negotiations. Biden, however, said he has “no immediate plans to contact Mr. Putin.”

Biden also noted that Putin has “miscalculated every single thing” when it comes to this war.

“So the question is what is his — how does he get himself out of the circumstance he’s in? I’m prepared if he’s willing to talk to find out what he’s willing to do, but I’ll only do it in consultation with my NATO. I’m not going to do it on my own,” Biden said.

Meanwhile, President Macron, who has continued speaking with Putin, said it’s up to Ukraine to come to the negotiating table.

“So it’s only legitimate that President Zelenskyy sets some conditions to talk. We need to work on what could lead to a peace agreement. But it’s for him to tell us when the time comes and what the choices of the Ukrainians are,” Macron said.

-ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky

Dec 01, 1:46 PM EST
Shelling in Kherson damages power lines as energy company works to finish repairs

Electricity was back for 60% of customers in the Ukrainian city of Kherson, but shelling overnight damaged power lines, according to the head of Ukraine’s regional energy company.

Workers are hoping to finish the repairs by the end of Thursday.

In Kyiv, 652,000 residents were subject to power outages throughout Thursday, according to the director of YASNO energy company, Serhiy Kovalenko. Kyiv’s main power grid is operating at less than 70% capacity and 20% of residents are still without power or heat.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky

Dec 01, 12:20 PM EST
Russia accuses US, NATO of direct involvement in war

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the West of being directly involved in the war in Ukraine by supplying the country with weapons and training its soldiers.

“You are training their military on your territory, on the territories of Britain, Germany, Italy and other countries,” Lavrov said at a press conference Thursday.

Lavrov also claimed that Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities and other key infrastructure were intended to weaken Ukraine’s military potential and derail the shipments of weapons from the West.

Lavrov also said Moscow is open to peace talks to end the conflict.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky

Nov 29, 11:47 AM EST
US to send $53M in energy aid to help Ukraine through winter

The U.S. will provide Ukraine with more than $53 million to acquire critical electric grid equipment to help its citizens get through the winter, the State Department announced Tuesday.

The announcement comes amid Russia’s continued attacks against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

“This new assistance is in addition to $55 million in emergency energy sector support for generators and other equipment to help restore emergency power and heat to local municipalities impacted by Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s power system,” the State Department said in a release.

-ABC News’ Matt Seyler

Nov 28, 4:36 PM EST
UN lays out ‘dire’ situation in southern Ukraine

Denise Brown, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Ukraine, traveled to the Ukrainian cities of Kherson and Mykolaiv over the weekend to get an update on the humanitarian issues affecting the southern part of the country, according to the U.N.

Although repairs to the area’s water system are finally able to commence, there is still a lot of work to be done to help the people in those cities, the U.N said.

“We continue to be concerned about the plight of civilians in Ukraine especially as winter sets in,” a U.N. spokesperson said in a statement.

Some heating points have already been established in Mykolaiv to help people who cannot heat their homes, according to the U.N.

“Aid workers are providing supplies and generators to make these places functional,” the U.N. said in a statement.

The agency added that donations and funding for humanitarian efforts are critical as the cold weather sets in.

Nov 25, 1:13 PM EST
Power restored in all regions, Ukraine grid operator says

All of Ukraine’s regions are now connected to the European Union’s energy system and all three nuclear power plants located in the Kyiv-controlled area are working, CEO of Ukrenergo grid operator Volodymyr Kudrytskyi announced.

“In one to two days, they will reach their normal planned capacity, and we expect to introduce planned rolling blackouts instead of emergency outages,” Kudrytskyi said.

Power is slowly returning to all Ukrainian cities, but blackouts and emergency shutdowns continue. Power issues are the worst in Kyiv, Kirivigrad, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Poltava and Lviv, according to Kudrytskyi.

Kyiv’s critical infrastructure receives electricity, the water supply is fully restored and heating is being restored, but 50% of residential houses remain without power. Only one-third of houses currently have heating, according to the mayor.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Women in Iran will still be required to wear the hijab under Islamic Republic law, even if the country’s government decides to abolish the religious police who were in charge of enforcing the dress code.

Iranian Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri announced on Saturday the country’s morality police had been dismantled, adding that the judicial system will keep monitoring people’s behavior in the country.

But on Sunday, Alalam News, the Arabic outlet of the Iranian state media, denied the attorney general’s comment on ending the morality police in a short piece on Sunday.

In addition, Iran’s parliament and the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution are studying the topic of hijab, and the result will be announced in 15 days, Montazeri announced on Thursday.

However, it is unclear how things will change as a result of these moves by the government. The announcements do not indicate that the mandatory hijab rule in Iran is over, as wearing the hijab is still mandatory under Islamic Republic law.

Morality police were just one of the enforcement arms for the regime to implement the law of mandatory hijab for women. There are “security” offices in all state organizations and malls, as well as parks and other public places, that are manned and managed by the intelligence ministry. One of the major tasks of these offices is to monitor women’s hijabs. Morality police was the name of the patrolling vans that would arrest women on the streets.

Even if the religious police were to be abolished, protesters and activists have been warning that it’s very likely authorities will rebrand the morality police and the mission will be back in no time under another name — as the morality police was itself a rebranded mission of a former police division name “Sar-allah Patrol.”

Women are controlled in many other ways to abide with this law. Girls — from the age of 7 — are not admitted at school if they do not wear clothes that are deemed proper. Women patients are not admitted at the hospitals if they do not wear a hijab. Women do not receive any service at the banks or any other organizations if they don’t follow the hijab laws.

The announcement to eliminate the religious police comes three months after deadly demonstrations in Iran — as well as protests all over the world — which could be an indication that the government is bowing down to global pressure.

On Sept. 16, Iranian woman Mahsa Amini died in the hospital days after she was arrested for allegedly not adhering to the dress code correctly.

Amini’s death ignited protests among women who risked their lives by ripping off their hijabs and cutting their hair in public.

At least 448 people, including 60 children, have been killed since the protests began, though the true number is believed to be higher because of the difficulty in accessing death certificates, according to NGO Iran Human Rights.

The protests are also targeting the head of the regime, Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with slogans such as “Death to dictator” and “Death to Khamenei.”

An estimated 14,000 people across the country, including many journalists and school children, have been arrested on charges related to demonstrations, the United Nations announced last month.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(KYIV, Ukraine) — At one school in Kyiv, students and teachers are continuing to go to class, even in the dark, doing their schoolwork with the help of flashlights.

“We don’t care, if it takes months and years without light — we still continue,” said 16-year-old Egor Egorenko.

While large parts of Ukraine are plunged into darkness amid rolling blackouts following Russian attacks on its energy grid, Ukrainian defiance appears to be shining as brightly as ever.

Power crews are continuing to work overtime on the new frontlines in an effort to keep the lights on.

“There were emergencies before. But before they were rare and for brief periods of time, now we have emergencies every day,” said Oleksandr Danilyuk, an employee with Ukraine’s main energy company. “I just worry that [Russia will] finish destroying all our infrastructure, so that people are left completely without power.”

Just going about their daily lives has become an act of resistance, some Ukrainians told ABC News.

“Our soldiers they are fighting in the terrible trenches, and our idea is to fight here, with the help of maybe a piece of chalk, but we are fighting,” said Volodymir Dmytriev, school principal and history teacher.

“We know that spring will come, and we will be the winners,” he1 added. “As for our students, they have only one duty: to study to rebuild and build free independent Ukraine.”

Shops are also powering through — at one pharmacy, staffers continued to work with headlamps, undeterred. And there were no empty seats at a classical music concert in downtown Kyiv, where the stage was lit only by candles.

“In my opinion, these concerts are exceptionally important right now,” concert organizer Oleksandr Pescherytsia said. “They’re for people who are afraid, who had their safety and peace of mind torn away from them, so it’s important to keep the light and warmth in people’s hearts alive. Nothing does it better than music.”

Kyiv resident Maksym Kondratovych has gone to great lengths to brace for a worst-case scenario, telling ABC News he’s basically camping in his own apartment. He stocked up on everything from equipment to filter and boil water, camping food — including dried borscht — glowsticks, flashlights and dry showers. And he has a sleeping bag at the ready for when it gets too cold.

And 10-year-old Ruth Gorshkova is determined to continue attending her guitar lessons no matter what happens next, even if that means playing in near total darkness. She told ABC News it’s her way of standing up to the Russians, that it helps her forget about the war and that when she plays, “with no lights, I have a light in my heart.”

ABC News’ Dragana Jovanovic, Natalia Kushnir, Yulia Drozd and Yuriy Boyko contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(TEHRAN, Iran) — Iranian authorities have been accused of stealing the bodies of slain protesters from hospitals and morgues in order to prevent families from holding funerals, which activists say could prove rallying points for the protests.

The families of the protesters who have been killed called it a disturbing new tactic of intimidation.

The U.N. has previously warned that Iranian authorities have refused the release of bodies or made their release contingent on the families staying silent.

Iran has denied allegations of human rights violations against protesters and has accused Western nations of turning “peaceful assemblies into riots and violence.”

The family of 16-year-old protester Nika Shakarami claim that her body was stolen by government forces in October.

Reza Haghighatnejad, an Iranian dissident journalist, worked in Prague for years for the Iranian branch of the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). He died of cancer in a Berlin hospital in October. When his body was flown home to Iran at his family’s request, his remains were not found at the airport, according to RFE.

According to the NGO Iran Human Rights, at least 448 people, including 60 children, have been killed since the protests began, though the true number is believed to be higher because of the difficulty in accessing death certificates.

The seizures have been particularly distressing for the families, who have been denied the opportunity to say goodbye to their loved ones. Sarah Haghighatnejad, the late journalist’s sister, published a video of her brother’s tombstone covered with flowers on her Twitter account. “Those who were even afraid of your lifeless body and did not give my mother and me a chance to say goodbye must pay the price,” she wrote.

“They are taking away the chance from the mourning families to say goodbye in peace to have the last word with their loved ones,” Mehdi Tajik, a journalist and friend of Haghighatnejad, said. “They seize bodies to force the families to either say they were not killed by the police or to force them to bury them without a funeral.”

Some families have responded by keeping hold of their dead or scrambling to get to morgues where their loved ones are kept.

One protester, Mehran Samak, was shot dead while celebrating Iran’s World Cup loss to the U.S. on the streets of Anzali, a port city in the north of the country. His death sparked a rush from his family to recover Samak’s body from the morgue, as they were scared he might be buried elsewhere by the authorities in secret, a friend of the family told ABC News.

The family of 10-year-old Kian Piraflak, shot dead in Izeh, Khuzestan Province, earlier this month, reportedly kept his body at home rather than a morgue out of fear he would be taken. Videos on social media have circulated showing women carrying buckets of ice, shouting “Ice! Ice for children” to symbolically protest the pain families go through to protect and preserve the bodies of their killed loved ones.

“She was forced to make a mobile morgue for the body of her child,” an Iranian journalist with knowledge of the alleged thefts told ABC News. The journalist did not want to be named for security reasons. “The fact that a mother cannot even think about seeking justice for the murder of her son, and instead she has to send people around to borrow ice so she can keep the body of her son cold overnight is pure horror and distress.”

Iran experts have said that the protests, which have united a diverse range of Iranians, pose the biggest challenge the regime has faced since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. In response, the authorities have pursued the deadly crackdown that has injured or killed hundreds and jailed thousands more.

ABC News’ Emma Ogao contributed to this report

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — More than six months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion into neighboring Ukraine, the two countries are engaged in a struggle for control of areas throughout eastern and southern Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose forces began an offensive in August, has vowed to take back all Russian-occupied territory. But Putin in September announced a mobilization of reservists, which is expected to call up as many as 300,000 additional troops.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Dec 02, 12:27 PM EST
Bloody packages with animal eyes sent to Ukrainian embassies

Packages believed to be blood-soaked and containing the eyes of animals, were sent to Ukrainian embassies worldwide, including in Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Croatia and Italy, the Ukrainian ministry of foreign affairs said Friday.

The entrance to the ambassador’s residence in the Vatican was also vandalized, according to the Ukrainian ministry of foreign affairs.

The Ukrainian embassy in the U.S. received a letter with a photocopy of a critical article about Ukraine. Like most other envelopes, the letter arrived along with others from the territory of an unnamed European country.

“We have reason to believe that a well-planned campaign of terror and intimidation of Ukrainian embassies and consulates is taking place. Not being able to stop Ukraine on the diplomatic front, they are trying to intimidate us. However, I can immediately say that these attempts are useless. We will continue to work effectively for the victory of Ukraine,” the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba said in a statement.

The Ukrainian embassy in Spain received a letter-bomb on Wednesday which was opened and ignited, resulting in one slight injury.

A similar envelope was sent to the U.S. embassy in Madrid, but it was detected before going off, according to Spanish officials.

All Ukrainian embassies and consulates have been placed under heightened security. The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on foreign governments to guarantee maximum protection of Ukraine’s diplomatic institutions.

Dec 01, 3:28 PM EST
Biden ‘prepared to speak with Putin’ if he wants to end war

Speaking at a joint press conference with France’s Emmanuel Macron, President Joe Biden said he would be open to speaking with Vladimir Putin if the Russian leader has legitimate interest in peace negotiations. Biden, however, said he has “no immediate plans to contact Mr. Putin.”

Biden also noted that Putin has “miscalculated every single thing” when it comes to this war.

“So the question is what is his — how does he get himself out of the circumstance he’s in? I’m prepared if he’s willing to talk to find out what he’s willing to do, but I’ll only do it in consultation with my NATO. I’m not going to do it on my own,” Biden said.

Meanwhile, President Macron, who has continued speaking with Putin, said it’s up to Ukraine to come to the negotiating table.

“So it’s only legitimate that President Zelenskyy sets some conditions to talk. We need to work on what could lead to a peace agreement. But it’s for him to tell us when the time comes and what the choices of the Ukrainians are,” Macron said.

-ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky

Dec 01, 1:46 PM EST
Shelling in Kherson damages power lines as energy company works to finish repairs

Electricity was back for 60% of customers in the Ukrainian city of Kherson, but shelling overnight damaged power lines, according to the head of Ukraine’s regional energy company.

Workers are hoping to finish the repairs by the end of Thursday.

In Kyiv, 652,000 residents were subject to power outages throughout Thursday, according to the director of YASNO energy company, Serhiy Kovalenko. Kyiv’s main power grid is operating at less than 70% capacity and 20% of residents are still without power or heat.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky

Dec 01, 12:20 PM EST
Russia accuses US, NATO of direct involvement in war

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the West of being directly involved in the war in Ukraine by supplying the country with weapons and training its soldiers.

“You are training their military on your territory, on the territories of Britain, Germany, Italy and other countries,” Lavrov said at a press conference Thursday.

Lavrov also claimed that Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities and other key infrastructure were intended to weaken Ukraine’s military potential and derail the shipments of weapons from the West.

Lavrov also said Moscow is open to peace talks to end the conflict.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky

Nov 29, 11:47 AM EST
US to send $53M in energy aid to help Ukraine through winter

The U.S. will provide Ukraine with more than $53 million to acquire critical electric grid equipment to help its citizens get through the winter, the State Department announced Tuesday.

The announcement comes amid Russia’s continued attacks against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

“This new assistance is in addition to $55 million in emergency energy sector support for generators and other equipment to help restore emergency power and heat to local municipalities impacted by Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s power system,” the State Department said in a release.

-ABC News’ Matt Seyler

Nov 28, 4:36 PM EST
UN lays out ‘dire’ situation in southern Ukraine

Denise Brown, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Ukraine, traveled to the Ukrainian cities of Kherson and Mykolaiv over the weekend to get an update on the humanitarian issues affecting the southern part of the country, according to the U.N.

Although repairs to the area’s water system are finally able to commence, there is still a lot of work to be done to help the people in those cities, the U.N said.

“We continue to be concerned about the plight of civilians in Ukraine especially as winter sets in,” a U.N. spokesperson said in a statement.

Some heating points have already been established in Mykolaiv to help people who cannot heat their homes, according to the U.N.

“Aid workers are providing supplies and generators to make these places functional,” the U.N. said in a statement.

The agency added that donations and funding for humanitarian efforts are critical as the cold weather sets in.

Nov 25, 1:13 PM EST
Power restored in all regions, Ukraine grid operator says

All of Ukraine’s regions are now connected to the European Union’s energy system and all three nuclear power plants located in the Kyiv-controlled area are working, CEO of Ukrenergo grid operator Volodymyr Kudrytskyi announced.

“In one to two days, they will reach their normal planned capacity, and we expect to introduce planned rolling blackouts instead of emergency outages,” Kudrytskyi said.

Power is slowly returning to all Ukrainian cities, but blackouts and emergency shutdowns continue. Power issues are the worst in Kyiv, Kirivigrad, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Poltava and Lviv, according to Kudrytskyi.

Kyiv’s critical infrastructure receives electricity, the water supply is fully restored and heating is being restored, but 50% of residential houses remain without power. Only one-third of houses currently have heating, according to the mayor.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — A passenger on an Antarctic cruise died and four others were injured after their Viking ship was struck by a “rogue wave,” the cruise line said.

The incident happened on Tuesday around 10:40 p.m. local time while the Viking Polaris ship was sailing toward Ushuaia, Argentina, Viking said.

A guest died following the incident, Viking said, though it did not share further details on the cause of death. The victim’s family has been notified, the company said. The identity or nationality of the passenger was not released.

Four other guests sustained non-life-threatening injuries during the incident and were treated by the ship’s doctor and medical staff, Viking said.

“We are investigating the facts surrounding this incident and will offer our support to the relevant authorities,” Viking said in a statement Thursday. “Our focus remains on the safety and wellbeing of our guests and crew, and we are working directly with them to arrange return travel.”

The ship sustained “limited damage” from the rogue wave and arrived in Ushuaia on Wednesday “without further incident,” Viking said. Images taken of the docked ship showed several damaged windows.

Passengers on board the ship described choppy conditions leading up to the incident.

Californian Beverly Spiker told ABC News that a “huge smash” against the window of her and her husband’s cabin caused her window frame to break.

“Clearly something big had happened,” she said. “A lot of water came shooting in.”

“Luckily, our windows did hold,” she added, though she said other rooms on their side of the ship were “washed out.”

Spiker’s cousin, Suzie Gooding, of North Carolina, told ABC News that at the time, the ship was going through the Drake Passage, “which is well-known for having turbulent seas.”

Gooding said despite the conditions outside looking “horrible,” the inside was “like a normal cruise ship” leading up to the incident. She said she felt a “sudden shudder” that caused cabinets to open.

“It was just unbelievable,” she said. “At the time that it happened, we personally wondered if, you know, we knew that we weren’t by any icebergs, but it’s like, did we hit an iceberg? It just was so sudden.”

Spike said she and other passengers were “shook up” afterward.

“No matter what side of the boat you’re on, it was felt throughout the ship that clearly something bad had happened,” she said. “So everybody was pretty shook up.”

The ship is docked as passengers await further travel plans from Viking, according to Gooding, who said that two other ships in their bay in Ushuaia were also damaged, possibly by rouge waves.

The Viking Polaris ship’s next departure for the Antarctic, scheduled for Dec. 5, has been canceled “after careful consideration,” the cruise line said.

Rogue, or extreme storm waves, are “greater than twice the size of surrounding waves” and are “very unpredictable,” according to the National Ocean Service.

Ushuaia, at the southernmost tip of South America, is a common starting point for cruises to Antarctica.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — The founder of nonprofit organization Sistah Space drew international attention after she detailed racist comments from a British royal aide while attending a Buckingham Palace reception on combatting violence against women hosted by Queen Consort Camilla.

Ngozi Fulani, whose charity focuses on supporting women of African and Caribbean heritage affected by domestic violence, detailed her encounter with “Lady SH” in a viral tweet about her experience that took place Tuesday at an event to mark the international campaign, 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.

“Because of the work that we do at Sistah Space, we talk about domestic abuse, but we also look at the racism or, you know, barriers for Black women reporting domestic abuse,” Fulani said, addressing the controversy in an interview with ABC News Live on Friday. “So because of that work, that’s why we received the invitation in the first place. I did not expect that five minutes after I got into the palace, I was approached by a woman that I didn’t know and I still don’t know.”

The royal aide was later revealed to be Lady Susan Hussey, godmother to Prince William and lady-in-waiting to the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Fulani, a British national, said that Hussey asked her repeatedly where she was from after moving her locs to see her name badge, allegedly responding, “No, what part of Africa are you from?” when Fulani said her organization is based in the U.K., continuing to question Fulani when she insisted that she was British.

“I know when someone’s asking me a question because they’re interested and when someone’s asking me a question because there’s a motive at the end,” Fulani told ABC News Live of the interaction she perceived as more than a case of genuine curiosity. “This is about her feeling comfortable that I can’t claim my British citizenship.”

Several commenters under the post mentioned the incident as a reminder of the racism and terroristic threats faced by Meghan Markle upon her entrance to the British Royal Family when she married Prince Harry in 2019. The duchess of Sussex, who is biracial, accused the Firm of ignoring her pleas for help when she suffered suicidal ideation and claimed an unnamed royal had concerns about her unborn baby’s skin color in a 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Earlier this week, Neil Basu, the former head of counterterrorism for the Metropolitan Police, confirmed the Sussexes faced “disgusting and very real” threats when they lived in the United Kingdom.

In response to the allegations, Buckingham Palace said in a statement last March that the royal family was saddened to learn the “full extent” of Harry and Meghan’s experiences.

“The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately,” the palace wrote.

The duchess of Sussex will make a trip to New York with Prince Harry next week, shortly after the prince and princess of Wales’ Boston travels this week.

Hussey has since resigned from her royal role and offered “her profound apologies for the hurt caused,” according to a statement from Buckingham Palace on Wednesday.

“We take this incident extremely seriously and have investigated immediately to establish the full details. In this instance, unacceptable and deeply regrettable comments have been made,” the palace said in a statement. “We have reached out to Ngozi Fulani on this matter, and are inviting her to discuss all elements of her experience in person if she wishes.”

In the wake of Hussey’s resignation — something Fulani did not want, according to her friend and fellow activist Mandu Reid — Fulani told ABC News on Friday that she and the palace have not spoken directly, but “will have that discussion” on how the situation should have been handled once they do.

“I haven’t spoken directly to the palace and neither have they to me. And when that happens, we will have that discussion,” she said. “But I just want to make something clear: The palace appointed her or gave her that position. So it’s for her and the palace to sort out. It’s not for me.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(FAYOUM, Egypt) — A huge 2,300-year-old funerary building and a number of mummy portraits were discovered in Egypt’s southern province of Fayoum, about 37 miles (60 kilometers) south of Cairo, the country’s antiquities ministry said on Thursday.

The building and the paintings, which are famously known as the Fayoum portraits, date back to the Ptolemaic and Roman eras in the 3rd century B.C. They were found in Fayoum’s Gerza village, which was known as Philadelphia during the Roman period.

“The discovered structure is a large building styled as a funerary building with colored gypsum tiled floors,” Adel Okasha, who heads the antiquities department in Cairo and Giza, said in a statement. “To the south of it, there is colonnade hall where the remains of four columns were found.”

The uncovering of the paintings was also hailed as one of the most important archeological discoveries this year, as it marked the first time such portraits were found in more than 110 years.

In the late 19th century and early 20th century, British egyptologist Flinders Petrie excavated at least 150 mummy portraits at a Roman necropolis in in Fayoum’s archeological site of Hawara.

“The discovery shows the diversity and difference in quality of the mummification process during the Ptolemaic and Roman times based on the financial status of the deceased,” said Mostafa Waziry, the head of Egypt’s Supreme Antiquities Council.

Waziry also said a “rare terracotta statue of [ancient deity] Isis Aphrodite was discovered inside one of the burials in a wooden coffin,” as well as “papyrus-made records” with Demotic and Greek inscriptions that show the economic and religious statuses of the inhabitants of the area at the time.

Egypt, which has invested heavily in ancient discoveries in recent years, is hoping to revive its ailing tourism industry. The country also plans to inaugurate a state-of-the-art museum near the Giza Pyramids, which Egypt says will be the biggest museum in the world dedicated to a single civilization.

 

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(NEW YORK) — Scientists have discovered a new predatory dinosaur fossil in Mongolia that was likely a semiaquatic diving predator.

A near-complete skeleton, found in the Omnogovi Province, depicts a bird-like specimen and was named “Natovenator polydontus,” or “Swimming hunter with many teeth,” according to a paper published in Communications Biology on Thursday.

Researchers from the Korea-Mongolia International Dinosaur Expedition located the fossils at the Baruungoyot Formation in 2008, Young-Nam Lee, a professor of vertebrate paleontology who led the dig, told ABC News.

During the expedition, 27 members of the team gathered 196 cataloged specimens. The Natovenator polydontus was found by Robin Sissons, a graduate student of the University of Alberta, Lee said.

The fossil was not fully exposed in the field, so Sissons, despite not knowing what it was at the time, made a plaster jacket for it, Lee said.

All of the fossils from that collection were then shipped to South Korea for preparation and study, where “a whole skeleton came to light” of the new species of dinosaur, Lee said.

The specimen “was so delicate but beautifully preserved,” Lee said.

It included a skull, spinal column, one forelimb and the remains of two hindlimbs. Its streamlined body, with ribs that point toward its tail, is similar to modern diving birds and its long neck resembles modern water birds such as geese, the researchers said. These adaptions may have reduced the drag that Natovenator would have been subjected to when swimming, helping it to catch prey.

The fossil also included an “unusually high number of teeth” compared to the size of the dinosaur’s jaw, indicating that it ate a fish or insect-based diet, according to the researchers.

“Instantly we realized it was something important,” Lee said. “It had a skull with many tiny teeth and a very long neck was distinct.”

This is the first time that a non-avian theropod — a type of carnivorous dinosaur that walked on two legs — was discovered with a streamlined body similar to some birds, according to the researchers.

Analysis of evolutionary relationships also indicate that the new species is closely related to halszkaraptorines, a group of non-avian theropods that previous research has suggested may have been adapted for a semiaquatic lifestyle.

“Natovenator is a valuable discovery,” Lee said. “Finding semi-aquatic dinosaurs means that the ecological diversity was very high in dinosaurs. Halszkaraptorines could change our prejudice about the lifestyle of dinosaurs.”

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(LVIV, Ukraine) — Officials have warned that the city of Lviv, Ukraine, home to over 150,000 internally displaced people, could face a winter without power as they anticipate another surge in refugee numbers.

The mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovyi, told ABC News that the city, near the western border with Poland, is preparing to stay completely without power supply and natural gas supply because of Russian missile attacks which have devastated Ukrainian infrastructure in recent weeks.

To cope with the coming winter, a major construction project is now underway in the city in order to facilitate a new wave of people fleeing from regions badly targeted by Russian missile strikes which involves both renovating existing modular houses and building new ones.

Amongst the current refugee population, there is a mix of fear ahead of the expected drop in temperatures as well as overall hope in Ukraine’s long-term ability to secure a victory in the war.

“We hope that we will move to a different location as it becomes cold in here,” Ksenia, a 17-year-old from New York — a town in Donetsk region situated near the current frontline — told ABC News. She has been living in Lviv since this summer, when warmer temperatures did not pose such a challenge, with her mother, grandmother, brother and two cats.

Maria, 45, from Zaporizhzhia, has tried to retain her optimism. Asked by ABC News about her family’s plans for the future, she said: “Only victory and a way back home.”

Both Maria’s brother and son are currently serving in the Ukrainian army and her husband, also a military serviceman, has been missing since 2015.

Maria’s mother, Olga says, the conditions were different in the summer when they just moved into a temporary house designed for the families of four people. Due to the building’s thin walls, it can get very wet inside the home — the walls, doors and even their beds are covered with condensation and, sometimes, even with fungus.

These modular houses were a result of an urgent decision made in the early stages of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

According to Mayor Sadovyi, five million people have moved through the city since late February and there were days when upwards of two million refugees were staying in Lviv at once.

“We were forced to come up with any decision to give these people an opportunity to sleep somewhere,” he said.

Now he plans to buy more powerful diesel generators to guarantee the city’s residents heating, even without complete electricity.

“Every medical facility and several boarding schools are supposed to have a generator as an alternative energy source, and a solid fuel boiler as a second heating source,” Sadovyi said.

A separate complex for young mothers and pregnant women was built in Lviv about three months earlier this year — a totally different type of accommodation that is resistant to low temperatures, is more comfortable and can house over 100 people at once.

Lilia Kilchytska, head of a charity called “Unbroken Mothers”, says that IDPs from Luhansk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv and other partially occupied regions live there at the moment.

To provide electricity and heating for the children and their mothers, the center has been granted a power generator by an international charity organization. It has already saved the families during the several blackouts caused by the Russian missile strikes.

A large number of refugees have lost their homes because of the war. Besides temporary shelters placed at dormitories, malls, theaters, schools, hospitals and other social infrastructure facilities, the administration is actively searching for long-term housing projects for IDPs.

Officials are currently considering buying, building or renovating enough square meters for the forced newcomers to the region but money is scarce, and authorities have said they require more donations and financial support if they are going to scale up their efforts.

At the moment, there are only 1,733 places for refugees to stay in these renovated buildings in Lviv over the upcoming winter.

That number, according to the authorities, pales in comparison to the potential flood of people who may leave their homes in other parts of Ukraine as Russian strikes continue this winter.

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