Freezing temperature leave 37 dead in Ukraine

Freezing temperatures in Ukraine have already cost at least 37 people their lives this winter, the Health Ministry said Tuesday. Most of the victims were homeless. Temperatures of minus 25 degrees Celsius were recorded overnight in the eastern part of the former Soviet Republic, dpa reported. Last winter, at least 135 people froze to death countrywide, as temperatures plummeted to around minus 30 degrees. In Lithuania, temperatures that dropped to minus 12 degrees resulted in two deaths, which brought the total to five, the Baltic News Service reported. In Latvia, the emergency service agency estimated that two people died in the cold spell. One person died in Moscow as temperatures fell to negative 20, Russia's Interfax news agency reported. The cold snap has affected other parts of Russia - on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the east, meteorologists recorded a record-breaking minus 50 degrees. In Siberia, many schools in the Tomsk region have closed due to the freezing temperatures.