Plummeting temperatures are set to hit Ukraine over the next few days leading to fears the humanitarian crisis there could worsen.
Forecasters expect sub-zero temperatures during the day for large parts of the country.
And significant wind-chill, as well as snow, will see temperatures drop to around -10C (14F).
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Sky’s weather producer Jo Robinson said: “Overnight lows of -10C are forecast for parts of the east – especially Kharkiv.
“And it could feel like -20C at night with the wind chill.
“The cold will be extensive across Ukraine, but the lowest temperatures seem to be in the east. It looks like the cold spell will last into the weekend.”
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It comes as Ukraine has begun evacuating civilians from more areas after new “humanitarian corridors” were opened.
A total of more than two million people have so far left Ukraine due to Russian attacks, the UN said on Tuesday, after the EU said as many as five million could be forced to flee if the invasion continued.
About 1.2 million Ukrainians have so far fled to Poland, including 141,500 on Monday, the Polish Border Guard said.
Hundreds of thousands more have gone to Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and non-EU Moldova, one of Europe’s poorest countries.
The EU is offering all Ukrainian refugees the right to live and work in member countries for up to three years under its emergency plan.
Officials said people had started leaving the northeastern city of Sumy and the town of Irpin, near capital Kyiv, on Tuesday.
Both areas have been under heavy Russian bombardment.
It followed agreement between Russian and Ukrainian officials around the establishment of “humanitarian corridors” to allow civilians out of some towns and cities besieged by Russia’s forces.
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These temperatures are below the usual March average, with Kyiv normally seeing 6C during the day and -2C at night.
The March average for Kharkiv is 4C in the day and -3C at night.
