Dangerous Cold Snap Descends on Ukraine

Ukraine Emergencies Ministry on Wednesday says a cold spell sweeping across the country has killed 13 more people, bringing the death toll up to 43. 

 

Ukraine is shivering through its coldest winter in six years, with overnight temperatures sinking as low as minus 27 degrees Fahrenheit.              

 

Hundreds of people have been treated in hospital for frostbite, hypothermia and other cold-related ailments.

 

[Vyacheslav Nazarenko, Doctor, Kiev Hospital]:

"There are patients with light frostbites and these will be treated relatively easy, without consequences - both the function and the appearance of the limbs will be restored. There are patients with deeper wounds and they will have problems. They will need surgeries to recover damaged tissues, and also amputations will take place."

              

Several hundred heated tents have been set up around the country to provide makeshift accommodation and dispense food and drink to homeless people.              

 

The ministry says that of the 43 people who have died over the past five days, 28 were found dead on the streets, 7 in their homes and 8 died while receiving medical care.              

 

In the Crimea region of Ukraine the cold has affected wildlife as well. 

 

With ice forming rapidly in the frigid temperatures, birds have been forced out of the water. 

 

Bird carcasses can be seen on roads and near bodies of water.              

 

Also in the Crimea region there are reports of emergency vehicles and ships being frozen or stranded in the ice and snow.              

 

January temperatures in Ukraine do not normally sink below 5 degrees F.