You're reading: Winter storm wreaks havoc across Ukraine

Heavy snowfalls have caused electricity blackouts in 1,598 towns and villages in fifteen provinces in Ukraine, Emergencies Ministry's spokesman Ihor Krol told Interfax-Ukraine.

As of 2 p.m. on Dec. 29, power supplies were cut in 262 towns and villages in Vinnytsia province, 215 in Kyiv province, 213 in Zhytomyr province, 183 in Poltava province, 144 in Chernihiv province, 138 in Kirovohrad province, 136 in Cherkasy province, 80 in Rivne province, 52 in Mykolaiv province, 45 in Khmelnytsky province, 43 in Zaporizhia province, 42 in Kherson province, 16 in Dnipropetrovsk province, eight in Lviv province and seven in Luhansk province. The snowstorm struck central and eastern Ukraine overnight on Dec. 28-29, putting down as much as 50 cm (20 inches) of heavy, wet snow.

More snow is on the way, according Internet weather forecasting sites gismeteo.ua and meteoprog.com.ua.