Snowstorm In Ukraine, Moldova Kills At Least 8. Many Left Without Power

Weather forecasts hinted at further deterioration, expecting snow and rain across Ukraine on Tuesday.

People are seen walking along Ekaterininskaya Street during a heavy snowstorm, Odessa. ( Image Source :Getty )

Following a snowstorm in central and southern Ukraine, five people were killed and three in neighbouring Moldova, according to a Reuters report. There were widespread power outages which affected hundreds of towns and villages, along with the closure of highways due to heavy snow and strong winds. Ukraine recorded 19 injuries, while Moldova reported around 10 injuries. Weather forecasts hinted at further deterioration, expecting snow and rain across Ukraine on Tuesday.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his nightly address, announced five deaths in the southern Odesa region and suggested there might be others elsewhere.

This severe weather onslaught coincided with the presence of thousands of troops at the front lines in the ongoing 21-month war with Russia, sparking concerns about potential attacks on the power grid by Moscow through airstrikes during winter.

President Vladimir Putin has been following reports of the "meteorological disasters" and has ordered the government to take measures to help the affected regions, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said.

Russia's energy ministry said about 1.9 million people were affected by power cuts.

Emergency services reported power outages in 882 locations, with traffic halted on 10 highways and over 1,500 trucks stranded. Schools shut down in both southern Ukraine and Moldova.

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said that snow drifts reaching up to two metres in height due to the winds. Central Kyiv, southern Odesa, and Mykolaiv regions bore the brunt of the power cuts, affecting 40,000 homes initially in the Kyiv region alone. As of 6:30 PM, over 15,000 homes in the region still lacked electricity.

In Moldova, two individuals were discovered frozen inside a car in the eastern part of the country, and another was found outside the capital.

Ukraine's border service announced the reopening of two border crossings in the Odesa region to Moldova after a temporary closure on Sunday, yet traffic conditions remained challenging.

The mayor of Odesa urged residents to stay indoors, cautioning about water supply interruptions caused by power cuts affecting pump operations. Eight individuals suffered from hypothermia, and five were injured by falling trees in the Odesa region, according to the emergency services.

Meanwhile, Russia has reported hurricane-force winds and severe flooding which resulted in approximately 1.9 million individuals losing power in the southern regions, including areas in Ukraine that were illegally annexed by Moscow, as per a BBC report.

The Russian energy ministry has highlighted that the most severely affected areas include Dagestan, Krasnodar, and Rostov within Russia, along with Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Crimea. At least four storm-related deaths have been reported by TASS.