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of national mourning for britain s longest serving monarch. well, the public viewing of the queen s coffin has now officially ended, and westminster hall is closed to the public as preparations begin for her funeral. over the last few days thousands have waited for hours in lines stretching several miles along the river thames just to pay their respects. well, in the hours ahead a procession will take the queen s coffin from westminster hall to westminster abbey where the funeral will take place. that service will be conducted by the dean of westminster. following the funeral the queen s coffin will be moved in a procession through central london to wellington arch where it ll be placed in the state hearse and travel on her final journey to windsor. from there a committal service will take place at st. george s chapel. well, cnn correspondents are following all of the developments for you. scott mcclain standing by in london where the final mourners have been waiting to ....
still ahead. also tonight, my exclusive interview with the president of israel on the conflict in ukraine and more. he s pushing back at pressure from ukrainian president vz volodymyr zelenskyy to choose a side. a second woman is now accusing georgia republican herschel walker of pressuring her to get an abortion. i m wolfer blitzer. you re the situation room. we begin our coverage tonight with the war in ukraine. the body of an american man killed while fighting alongside ukrainian defenders is finally on the way home tonight after a swap with russia. this as putin s army prepares for a major battle inside the largest ukrainian city still controlled by moscow. c nrknn fred pleitgen has our rt from the war zone. reporter: ukrainian forces trying to hit the russians on all fronts. this mortar unit firing in the north of the country while in the south, kyiv is continuing a counter offensive trying to capture the russian occupied city of kherson. we met up with an ....
we ve had an opportunity to meet with an awful lot of consequential people, but i can say that the ones who stand out in your mind are those whose relationship and interaction with you are consistent with their reputation. when the queen had us to the castle for tea and she kept offering me more and i kept eating everything she put in front of me. she was the same as her image. decent, honorable, and all about service. our hearts go out to the royal family, to king charles and all of the family. it s a loss, a giant hole. sometimes you think you ll never overcome it. but, as i ve told the king, she will be with him every step of the way, every minute, every moment, and that s a reassuring notion. so to all of the people of england and the united kingdom, our hearts go out to you. you were fortunate to have had her for 70 years. we all were. the world is better for her. thank you. mr. president, why does she remind you of your mother? just because of the way she to ....
and as the queen s grandchildren stood together in tribute, so does the public. the line, you have to take a look at these pictures, they are incredible. the line to see queen elizabeth lying in state is extraordinary, it stretches for miles. and this has been going on for hours day and night. the wait reaching longer than 24 hours at times. but some people in line got a memorable surprise as king charles iii and prince william came to greet them earlier today. the new king saying his mother would have been so touched. anna stewart has been spending all day speaking to people waiting in the epic queue to see the queen lying in state. anna, how is everybody holding up? sounds like this is almost so much reverence going on, but a bit fof atmosphere. reporter: yes, and right now looking at the tracker, it says 13 1/2 hours and tonight s weather will be cold. and i can attest to that, it is pretty nippy here in the uk since the sun has gone in. you can see though the qu ....
ukraine and an all out effort to avoid a rail strike here in the united states. well, the clock is ticking for negotiators to avoid the potentially crippling rail strike here in the united states. talks led by labor secretary marty walsh have been going on throughout the early morning hours. one official tells cnn don t expect a resolution any time soon. a strike could put a serious dent in a u.s. economy already struggling to recover threatening deliveries of amtrak is warning of cancellations and more to come. more from pete muntean. reporter: it is the latest effort to put the breaks on a rail worker strike that could bring a major blow to the economy. bosses met with the labor secretary in a last-ditch effort to reach a deal by midnight thursday. that s when 60,000 workers could walk off the job in solidarity with train engineers fighting for sick time. a strike will mean freight rail, which makes up 40% of all freight in the u.s., will grind to a halt impacti ....