London - The UK has opened around 3,300 'warm banks' as millions face fuel poverty this winter. It is predicted that temperatures could drop to -10 degrees Celsius in some parts of the country over the next week, according to the Met Office.

The Warm Welcome Campaign,” organized by a coalition of Christian organizations, has seen local businesses, churches, and libraries open their doors to frightened individuals seeking shelter from the cold. In a report published on Saturday by The National, some of these locations provide free tea and a work area, and many are "a third or even half full."

"There's little doubt that we're on the verge of a crisis this winter due to energy and fuel inflation," Christian activist Carl Beech wrote on the campaign's website. "People will have to choose between food and warmth." Creating warm and welcoming spaces...will be an absolute necessity."

According to figures from the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, 16.4 million people in the UK will be unable to afford to heat this winter. The Warm Welcome Campaign stated that one in ten excess deaths this winter will be attributable to fuel poverty, and that government assistance – despite adding billions of pounds to the national debt – will still fall £800 ($980) per household short of making up for the increased cost of living.

Meanwhile, freezing weather hit the UK this weekend, with the Met Office predicting snow, ice, and temperatures as low as -10 degrees Celsius in some locations. Freezing fog is predicted across southern England on Sunday and Monday, with sleet or snow potentially hitting the southeast on Sunday.

Energy prices and inflation, which had been steadily rising since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, have skyrocketed since the UK decided to cut off its reliance on Russian fossil fuels earlier this year. In the EU, the situation is similar, with Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova blaming the bloc's leaders for pushing "Europe, particularly the European Union, towards a global energy collapse."