KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia and Ukraine both took precautions today to protect homeless people, scores of whom have frozen to death on the streets of Europe during its brutal cold snap.
As the death toll from the weeklong tragedy rose to at least 169 today, Russian Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered the creation of feeding and medical assistance facilities nationwide for the homeless.
Russia has not reported casualty figures from the cold snap, which has gripped a large swath of the continent from Russia to Serbia. But Russian Deputy Health Minister Maxim Topilin was quoted by the ITAR-Tass news agency today as saying that 64 people died from the cold in all of January.
In Ukraine, the hardest hit country, health officials have told hospitals to stop discharging the hundreds of homeless patients after they are treated for hypothermia and frostbite. The goal is to prevent them from dying once they are released into temperatures as low as minus 26 Fahrenheit.
Authorities also have set up nearly 3,000 heating and food shelters.
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less