UPS, FedEx Halting Shipments to Russia and Ukraine Until Further Notice Amid Moscow-Led Invasion

A United Parcel Service (UPS) sign is displayed outside of a UPS facility during a job fair in New York, on Nov. 1, 2019. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Two of the world’s largest logistics companies, UPS and FedEx, have announced that they are pausing delivery service to Russia and Ukraine amid the Moscow-led invasion.

Both of the U.S.-based shipping companies had earlier said that they were cutting off shipments to and from Ukraine until further notice.

In a service update on UPS’s website, the Atlanta-based company has now said it has suspended all international shipments to destination addresses in Russia effective from Feb. 25 until further notice.

UPS had previously suspended all shipping services to, from, and within Ukraine impacting collections and deliveries until further notice on Feb. 24.

“Our focus is on the safety of our people, providing continued service and minimizing disruption to our customers,” UPS said. “UPS continues to closely monitor the situation and will re-establish service as soon as it is practical and safe to do so.”

The company said that packages already in transit to Russia that cannot be delivered will be returned free of charge to the sender where possible but it noted that a money-back guarantee does not apply to them when UPS’s service is affected by circumstances outside of its control.

FedEx issued a similar service alert on its website.

“We are closely monitoring the situation and have contingency plans in place, including temporarily suspending inbound and outbound services to Ukraine and inbound service to Russia until further notice,” the alert reads.

Meanwhile, the company’s Money-Back Guarantee is currently suspended for all FedEx Express services in Europe until further notice.

Elsewhere, German logistics company Deutsche Post DHL said it had temporarily suspended all transports between Denmark and Ukraine as well as bookings of new shipments.

“All DHL Freight’s current agreements regarding road transport between Denmark and Russia are suspended as of today. The already critical situation for border crossings to/from Russia has now deteriorated further in the light of the ongoing conflict,” the company said. “Bookings of new road freight shipments with DHL Freight to/from Russia are only accepted by prior arrangement.”

The announcements come as a number of flight companies, including Japan Airlines, and Emirates have also canceled or changed their flight routes to Russia amid the ongoing conflict, citing safety concerns.

In the United Kingdom, Prime minister Boris Johnson has also banned all aircraft which is, “owned, chartered or operated by a person connected with Russia, or which is registered in Russia” from entering UK airspace, including State-owned Aeroflot.

That announcement prompted swift retaliation from Moscow, which fired back with a ban on British flights from landing at its airports and from crossing its airspace, including transit flights, beginning Feb. 25.

Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsiya, said the move was in “response to unfriendly decisions by the UK aviation authorities.”

The European Union also announced a similar move on Sunday, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stating that the bloc is shutting down EU airspace to Russia-controlled, owned, or registered aircraft, including the “private jets of oligarchs.”

The EU chief also told Euronews in an interview on Sunday that over time, Ukraine “belongs” in the European Union and that the EU wants the former Soviet country as a member.

“They are one of us and we want them in,” von der Leyen said.