Heavy snow, extremely rare for late March, virtually paralyzed traffic in Kyiv, and led to many international flights out of the city’s airports delayed and cancelled.
Starting on Friday, heavy snowfall, wind and freezing temperatures covered most of
Ukraine’s north regions, including Kyiv, as of Saturday morning. Some 20 inches — or 50 centimeters — had fallen by late Saturday afternoon.
The traffic in
Ukraine’s capital has significantly slowed down, with the northern and western
parts of town – the Podil, Dorohozhychi and Shylyavka areas – virtually blocked,
according to TSN news report.
Meanwhile,
more than 40 flights out of the country’s main Boryspil airport, have been cancelled,
including all of the flights by Ukraine International Airlines, the nation’s largest carrier. The company announced complete halt of its flights out of Kyiv until 10 a.m. on Sunday, March 24. Likewise,
flights to Germany’s Memmingen, Treviso in Italy, Budapest and London have been cancelled at the smaller
Zhulyany airport, with 11 more flights currently listed as delayed.
Nationwide,
the traffic is partially blocked at the Kyiv-Chop highway, the country’s main
route, connecting the capital to the western border, leading the road police in
Lviv Oblast to limit access of cars to the highway. Nearly 400 towns and
villages, primarily in the northern and western parts of Ukraine have been cut
off the electricity.
According to the forecasts, the heavy snowfalls
will last until Monday. The temperature will fall well below freezing, to -12 on Sunday night. The freezing temperatures are expected to continue
in Ukraine till the end of March.
