At least 181 people have died as a result of the extreme cold since last Saturday, several days after temperatures first began to plunge in the eastern parts of the country on Russia's western border, the health ministry said in a statement.

Some 3,295 people have sought medical attention during the past five days and 2,271 of them have been hospitalized, mostly for frostbite and hypothermia, it said.

The cold snap began to let up across Ukraine on Wednesday and the thaw was expected to continue into the weekend, forecasters said. The lowest temperature on Thursday midday in Ukraine was minus 13 C (minus 8 F).

Like neighboring Russia, Ukraine was gripped by severe temperatures starting last week, with the mercury dipping to minus 35 Celsius (minus 31 Fahrenheit) in some parts of the country.

A majority of the victims have been the homeless and inebriated people and most of the deaths have occurred in eastern regions, where plunging temperatures have held the longest.

Although the mercury in parts of Ukraine regularly dips below minus 30 C (minus 22 F) during the winter, the cold snap during the past week was notable both for its duration -- more than a week in eastern Ukraine -- and for its extent -- temperatures dropped across the entire country, even in the normally balmy Crimean peninsula on the Black Sea.

The temperatures have closed schools and mines and have strained the nation's heating and electricity system to their limits, with accidents leaving thousands of people shivering in the Arctic cold temperatures without power and electricity, sometimes for days at a time.

The cold snap has sent the use of natural gas, the nation's chief energy source, spiralling and sparked a new row between Kiev and Moscow.

The skyrocketing consumption caused Russia's state-owned Gazprom energy giant to accuse Ukraine, which transports some 80 percent of Russian exports to Europe, of withholding gas meant for European clients.

Several countries in Europe, where temperatures have also dipped below average winter levels, have recorded deficits of Russian gas deliveries.

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