Ten Ukrainians froze to death during a severe winter storm that struck in late November, when the country’s war compromised electric power system failed, leaving tens of thousands without light or heat during a period of extremely cold temperatures, thick ice, and deep snow, report CNN and Al Jazeera.
“At least 10 people have died and thousands remain cut off from the power grid in Ukraine, in three days of stormy weather that has blanketed parts of the country in heavy snow, a senior official said Tuesday,” writes CNN. “More than 400 settlements across 11 regions were without electricity, and more than 1,500 responders were trying to reach thousands of people in need of rescue, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko wrote on Telegram, as fresh bouts of snow are expected to continue this week.”
Reporting on the severe winter storm, Al Jazeera wrote:
Ten people have died in Ukraine as icy storms of snow and rain swept in from the Black Sea, crippling infrastructure, blocking roads and cutting power, the country’s interior minister said.
The record-breaking storm has lashed swathes of the country since Sunday, leaving thousands of settlements in the affected region without power and taxing an already overworked energy grid and rescue service overextended by Russia’s nearly two-year invasion.
In addition to the 10 confirmed deaths, 23 people suffered weather related injuries, including two children, and Ukraine’s emergency services reported rescuing thousands of people trapped in their homes or in vehicles that had gone off the roads during the storm and in its aftermath. The deaths, injuries, and rescues spanned the country, including in the Odesa, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and Kyiv regions, reflecting the storm’s countrywide impact.