Extreme cold invades Europe

Heavy snow in Bosnia and Herzegovina

After an unusually mild start to the winter season, dangerously cold air and snow has taken over sections of Europe this week.

Ukraine, the country worst hit by eastern Europe's cold snap, is shivering through its coldest winter in six years, with overnight temperatures sinking as low as minus 35C. January temperatures in Ukraine generally don't sink below minus 15C.

Schools shut down and supermarkets in Kiev began to report food shortages as delivery trucks struggled to get to their destinations. Hundreds have been treated for frostbites, hypothermia and other cold-related ailments.

11,000 people in rural areas of Serbia remained cut off by snow on Thursday as snow drifts blocked roads and runways, ice seized up railway points and sub-zero temperatures froze fuel and car batteries.

"Conditions are catastrophic, temperatures are low, snow is 4-5 metres deep, and more snow creates problems," said Ekrem Muminovic, a bulldozer driver.

Schools in the area have been affected, as well. "We cannot heat the classrooms, from minus 36C outside to plus 20, it's almost 60 degrees difference, so at the moment there is no fuel and we cannot do it," Mayor of Sjenica, Muriz Turkovic, said.

In Warsaw, Poland, special patrols have been organized by the city council to help the homeless as the death toll continues to rise. Traffic warden Katarzyna Wasowska and her colleague pack their patrol car with bread and soup containers before they leave for their daily patrol of areas frequented by the homeless.

"Every year the city wardens are trying to help those in need, the homeless, by distributing warm meals. We distribute around 60 portions for those who need it, we work together with social services, who visit these people with us. We bring them blankets, bed sheets," Wasowska said.

The Red Cross has helped set up shelters for the homeless in Europe

In Russia, emergency services were deployed as freezing weather cut of Russkiy Island. The island can only be reached by water. One passenger ship managed to make it to the island after negotiating its way through blocks of ice.

Vladikavkaz residents in North Ossetia, in the Russian North Caucasus, braved heavy snowfall at minus 14 on Friday. Heavy snowfall blocked traffic on one of the main highways in the Volgograd region. The local Emergency Ministry administration had to send special vehicles to clear the now and deliver a hot food supply to drivers.

While the cold snap hasn't been as harsh or dangerous in sections of western Europe, some areas have gotten a significant taste of winter this week.

Snow came to the normally sun-kissed Mediterranean coastline of southern France on Thursday. State weather body Meteo France declared a severe weather warning in 25 regions in France, mostly in the south and east.

Palm trees in France's port city of Marselle were covered in snow as the local children seized the opportunity to participate in a rare snowball fight.

"We're really happy that we had snow, especially in this area, where we don't really have the occasion to see snow," said one local resident. "We're very happy."

In Italy, plunging temperatures and heavy snowfall swept through large parts of the country on Thursday, causing disruptions to both land and air traffic. In the financial capital Milan, flights had to be cancelled at the city's Linate airport because of snow. In the railway hub of the central city of Bologna, various services had to be cancelled due to freezing temperatures and large quantities of snow on the tracks.

The cold snap in Europe is expected to continue through the rest of the week.