A man walks through snow covered banks of the Danube river in Zemun near Belgrade on February 12, 2012. Cold weather claimed seven more lives on Sunday in the Balkans -- two in Albania, one in Serbia and Bosnia respectively, while three more victims of an avalanche that buried several houses in a southern Kosovo village were found.
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London (CNN) -- More deaths were reported in Eastern Europe on Thursday as the region continued to shiver in the grip of unusually frigid weather.
The coldest temperatures continued to chill the Eastern European countries of Romania, Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia, where Thursday was the coldest day yet for many.
In Ukraine, 65 people have died since the bad weather started this week, according to the Ukranian Emergency Ministry. Of those, 47 were homeless. Others died in their homes or in hospitals as a result of frostbite and hypothermia.
Health officials say that more than 1,100 people have sought help for hypothermia and frostbite over the past six days, the state-run Ukrinform news agency reported, and more than 900 of them have been treated in hospitals.
The authorities have opened more than 2,200 heated tents for people who do not have heating in their homes. Most schools in the capital, Kiev, are closed through the weekend.
Temperatures there dipped to 25.5 degrees below zero Celsius (13.9 degrees below zero Fahrenheit) Thursday, the coldest night in 83 years, according to Ukrinform.
Conditions in eastern Ukraine are among the toughest because high winds are common there, and it is a poor area. Many homes still have a Soviet-era heating system, which is prone to break down.
Freezing temps claim lives in Europe
European temperatures plummet
Temperatures are expected to drop as low as 35 degrees below zero Celsius (31 degrees below zero Fahrenheit) overnight Thursday to Friday in parts of the country.
CNN International meteorologist Jennifer Delgado said eastern and central Europe are being hammered by a ridge of high pressure that is pulling in cold Siberian air. The trend will continue Friday, she said.
In Poland, 29 people have died as a result of the freeze, the publicly funded Polish Radio's news website reported, up from only half that number a day earlier. Temperatures plummeted to 34 degrees below zero Celsius (29 degrees below zero Fahrenheit) in the Bieszczady mountains in southeastern Poland overnight, the website said.
The country's southern, eastern and central provinces are most affected by the cold, with temperatures expected to fall even lower overnight into Friday.
Some schools are closed because their heating is inadequate to cope with the conditions.
Katarzyna Najorczyk, vice principal of a high school in Bydgoszcz, said, "Kids' safety and health is the most important."
Police are continuing to search for homeless people to take them to shelters. In Szczecin, Arkadiusz Oryszewski of the Phenix Association said, "During the last days of cold weather, our team had to go out to bring new people every two hours. Only tonight, seven people were brought, and this morning we have three men so far."
Six people have died from the cold in Serbia, and one is missing and presumed dead, the Serbian state-run news agency Tanjug quoted emergencies official Predrag Maric, of the country's interior ministry, as saying.
About 11,500 people have been cut off from the world by heavy snowfall, and a state of emergency has been declared in 14 municipalities, Maric told the agency. More icy rainfall and snow is expected.
Temperatures in Bucharest, Romania, dropped below 21 degrees below zero Celsius (minus-6 Fahrenheit) for the fifth consecutive night Wednesday into Thursday, CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller said.
Romanian Transport Minister Anca Boagiu said, "It's a moment when we cannot play games with nature, but we have to respect the force of nature. We have to protect ourselves and our families."
In western Turkey, heavy snow is expected to continue through Friday morning. Some city administrations sent workers home. Temperatures in the capital, Ankara, dipped to 19 degrees below zero Celsius (minus-2 Fahrenheit), and snow continued to fall there as well as in Istanbul.
Farther west, much of central and northern Italy has been blanketed by unusually heavy snowfall.
Air and road travel has been disrupted, and many professional soccer games have been canceled because of the bad weather.
CNN iReporter Luca Martini said heavy snow had fallen in the northern Italian city of Ferrara. The 12-centimeter (5-inch) snowfall is quite unusual for the area, he said, and is causing traffic problems.
Miller said a strong high-pressure area -- named "Dieter" by the Free University of Berlin, which has responsibility for naming highs and lows in Europe -- is currently bringing down the frigid Siberian air and keeping Europe in the teeth of its worst cold spell in years.
The heart of the cold air is now migrating slightly to the north, he said, and the most extreme temperatures will probably be found in the Baltic states and eastern Scandinavia as the week goes on.
An area of low pressure moving in from the Mediterranean will help the temperatures rebound somewhat in eastern and southeastern Europe, Miller said, but the system will bring heavy snow and storms, which will make travel even more treacherous.
Journalist Alexey Yaroshevsky in Ukraine and CNN's Talia Kayali contributed to this report.
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A picture taken on February 11, 2012 shows the frozen Damse Vaart in Damme. For the 13th consecutive day, temperatures in Belgium were below zero degrees Celsius. This is the longest cold wave for Belgium since 1941.
Mist rises from the partially frozen Great Ouse river on February 11, 2012 in Huntingdon, England. The Met Office recorded the coldest temperature so far this winter with -16C registered in Holbeach, Lincolnshire.
People walk on the frozen Aussenalster river during the 'Alstervergnuegen' on February 11, 2012 in Hamburg, Germany. The very popular annual city festival 'Alstervergnuegen' takes place around the Alster lake in Hamburg.
People walk on the frozen lake Zwischenahner Meer in Bad Zwischenahn, near Oldenburg, northern Germany, where blocks of ice have been cut out.
The castle and the old bridge are seen over the frozen river Neckar in Heidelberg, southwestern Germany, on February 12, 2012. Temperatures remain cold in Germany as the death toll from Europe's big freeze rose past 550.
Lighthouse and lampposts are covered with heavy ice in central Adriatic Croatian port of Senj, some 200 kilometres from Zagreb, as the sun sets on February 8, 2012. There are more than 100 villages still trapped by snow in remote, mountain parts in Croatia.
Bobsleigh riders walk at a small hill in the Olympic park in Munich, southern Germany, on February 7, 2012.
A man walks past concrete steles of the Monument for the Murdered Jews of Europe after fresh snowfall on February 9, 2012 in Berlin.
A woman sporting a fur hat walks in the center of Ukrainian capital of Kiev on February 9, 2012. Helicopters ferried food and medicine to iced-in villagers Wednesday as the cold snap tightened its frigid grip on the continent.
A man walks with his dogs next to Queen's Mere pond in the snow on Wimbledon common on February 10, 2012 in London, England. The Met Office cold weather alert remains at Level 3 as southern parts of England continue to suffer from cold weather and freezing conditions, with further snowfall overnight.
People skate on a frozen pond in Prague on February 6, 2012. Meteorologists this morning measured minus 39.4 degrees Celsius, the coldest temperature of this winter, in Kvilda village, in the South Bohemian Sumava mountains.
A picture taken on February 6, 2012 shows horses in a field covered with snow in the Corsican village of Cognocoli-Monticchi. In France, 39 of the country's 101 regions were on alert for deep cold or snow, down from more than half the regions at the weekend.
A monument is covered with snow in Kiev on February, 6, 2012 after heavy snowfalls in Ukraine. Ukraine on Monday blamed alcohol abuse as the main cause of deaths caused by a spell of abnormally cold weather that has claimed at least 135 lives over the last 10 days.
A man walks under an umbrella during a snowfall in downtown Skopje on February 6, 2012.
A man takes pictures of a Bartholdi fountain covered by ice on February 6, 2012 on Terraux square in Lyon, eastern France. In France, 39 of the country's 101 regions were on alert for deep cold or snow, down from more than half the regions at the weekend.
A dog plays in the icy Elbe River on Monday, February 6, in Hamburg, Germany. The Arctic cold snap in Europe has claimed nearly 300 lives, brought air travel chaos to London, and dumped snow as far south as Rome and even North Africa.
People walk through a park in Burgos as snow hits northern Spain on Sunday.
A man snowboards Sunday in Caen, France. Seventy-five French departments were under medium range (orange) alert for snow and ice Monday.
A frozen fountain stands in front of Buckingham Palace in London on Sunday. Heavy snow fell overnight across southeast England, causing many roads to become blocked.
iReporter Fabrizio Buzzi sent this shot taken in central Rome on Saturday. "People go out to enjoy the experience as snow is a rare sight in Rome," says Buzzi.
iReporter John Pe shot this photo of the streets of Rome blanketed by heavy snowfall. He said local residents have "gotten their snow gear and have taken to the slopes!"
Snow paralyzes traffic in Bucharest, Romania, on Monday.
Ice accumulates in the Trocadero fountain in Paris, as France faces low temperatures.
A man walks past an ice-covered car Sunday on the frozen waterside promenade at Lake Geneva in Versoix, Switzerland.
Two girls sled down the hill Sunday in London's Alexandra Park.
People stand in snow Saturday in front of the Colosseum in Rome.
A man puts snowchains on his car Saturday in Rome. Heavy snowfall caused the Italian capital to grind to a halt.
A boy and his mother skate on the partly frozen Elbe River on Thursday as the skyline of Dresden, Germany, is silhouetted in the background.
A man pets a dog next to frozen sea waters in Constanta, Romania, on Wednesday. Temperatures plunged to -34 degrees Celsius (-29 degrees Fahrenheit) in central Romania.
People walk on an ice-covered dam next to frozen Black Sea waters near Bucharest on Wednesday.
A man is seen through an icy window Wednesday on a tram in Sofia, Bulgaria.
In the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, temperatures dropped to -22 degrees Celsius (-8 degrees Fahrenheit) on Wednesday. The cold temperatures were blamed for at least 31 deaths in the country.
A skier takes advantage of the unusual snowfall in Istanbul, Turkey, on Tuesday. The snow paralyzed daily life there.
An ice fisherman waits for a catch on a frozen lake near Sofia on January 30.
Animal lovers helped remove the snow that covered the "second chance" dog shelter outside Glina, Romania on January 28.
Bulgarian women walk through heavy snow January 28 in Rakovski.
A man clears snow off a vehicle in Sofia on January 27.
Freshly plowed snow frames a road in Bucharest on January 27.
A dog takes shelter from a blizzard in Catelu, Romania, on January 26.
Pedal-boats and canoes sit in frozen water in Stockholm, Sweden, on January 26.
iReporter Cosmin Stan sent in this photo from Bucharest on January 26. "The problem was not the quantity of the snow, but the strong winds," he told CNN.
Skiers make their way through the snow near Oberhof, Germany, on January 25.
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