A Russian fisherman huddles in a cloud of steam as he fishes near the freezing Moscow River. Snowflakes collect on a girl's face in Inner Mongolia. A young woman peers through a bus window in frigid Serbia.

The scenes repeated across the Northern Hemisphere as severe cold winter swept many regions, with warnings of more cold weather to come.

A vicious cold snap has claimed over 250 lives across Europe. Ukraine has suffered the heaviest toll of 122 deaths, including many people who froze to death in the streets, as temperatures plunged to as low as minus 38 C. Nine Romanian children were taken into care after a baby died in an unheated house on Friday.

Japan also experienced record low temperatures.