Russia-Ukraine War: Kyiv urges global businesses to suspend operations 'with or in Russia'

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba on Tuesday, March 8, demanded in a defiant tone for foreign companies in America, Europe, and West to immediately halt operations with Russia over latter’s military offensive against Ukrainian civilians. In a letter posted on Twitter, Kuleba requested foreign companies to sever business ties with Moscow in an impassioned tweet.

"Ukraine requests ethically and socially responsible global businesses to stop or suspend operations with or in Russia, refore refusing to finance its violence, murders, and crimes against humanity,” Ukraine’s foreign minister asserted on Tuesday. 

He continued, that each day as Russia intensifies its assault on Ukraine soil, sovereign nation faces “an unprecedented escalation of military aggression that has rapidly developed from occupying our land, hitting critical infrastructure to missile strikes and cluster bombings of peaceful residential blocks causing mass casualties of civilians, incent men, women, and children, breaking all possible rules and principles of international and humanitarian law.”

'Immediately suspend operations in Russia': Dmytro Kuleba

Kuleba said in his appeal to global companies that y immediately suspend operations in Russia on moral and ethical grounds. Ukrainians, he said, are fighting to protect “Europe and main principles of global community —humanity, rule of law and international order enshrined in United Nations Charter.”

Ukraine’s foreign minister asked global leers in government and private sector, international organisations, and multinational companies to resort to undertaking collaborative measures in order to weaken Russia’s ecomic and military edge. se resources, he alleged, are being used by Russia for threatening and blackmailing Ukrainians, asserted Ukrainian official. In his demand, Kuleba asked international firms to "join ethically and socially responsible global businesses, which have alrey stopped or suspended operations with or in Russian Federation, refusing to finance Russian violence, murders, and crimes against humanity with ir taxes.”

He continued, "As soon as Ukraine wins this war, we will start renewing our infrastructure and ecomy, continuing path of reforms to become a full-fledged member of European Union.” latter iterated that he invites se global companies to express solidarity with Ukraine, and join or multinational companies who have alrey publicly expressed ir reiness to start or resume business in Ukraine. 

Several multinational firms have suspended tre and commerce in Moscow after crippling West and EU sanctions. Just recently, BP and Shell, Europe's largest oil company, anunced y were exiting Russian state-controlled oil company and a Russian natural gas giant respectively. "We are shocked by loss of life in Ukraine, which we deplore, resulting from a senseless act of military aggression," Ben van Beurden, Shell's chief executive, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Exxon Mobil anunced that it is ending Russia's oil and gas operations valued at more than $4 billion and halting all new investments. American firm Apple also stopped sales from its website in Russia. Apple CEO Tim Cook asked  company to stop device sales and to block app store access in Moscow. 

Dell Techlogies, Ford, and Ericsson,  world's biggest container ship operators— AP Moller-Maersk A/S and Mediterranean Shipping Co have all scrapped tre arrangements with Russia over full-fledged war on Ukraine. Luxury Autocar companies such as Volkswn, BMW, and Porsche also said y would have to curtail production.