FedEx, UPS, halt shipments to Russia and Ukraine as conflict rages

Neither snow nor rain nor heat may stop the U.S. Postal Service, but war can halt the shipment of packages.

The U.S post office, as well as private shipping services UPS, FedEx and DHL have announced shipping issues in Europe following Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine last week.

Packages shipped through U.S. Postal Service are sent to Ukraine Post, which according to USPS has advised "that due to the conflict in the region international postal transit through Ukrainian territory has been suspended until further notice." Ukraine post offices will remain closed starting Feb. 24 with deliveries suspended "until further notice," according to the USPS announcement from last week, which said delivery to Ukraine will resume when "the situation allows." 

Private companies are also facing difficulties in shipping due to Russia's incursion, which does not appear to have a clear end in sight. Ukraine and Russia held talks in Belarus on Monday, with both parties reportedly only coming to the agreement that negotiations should continue. 

FedEx announced Monday: "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."

All FedEx Express services in Europe until further notice will no longer have the logistic company's "Money Back Guarantee."

UPS is stopping shipping services "to, from and within Ukraine" from Feb. 24 until further notice, according to a service alert on the company's website. International UPS shipments to Russia are stopped until further notice starting on Feb. 25, but the company did whether packages within or out of the country will be halted. 

The service alert stressed that "when service is affected by circumstances out of UPS's control, our money-back guarantee does not apply." 

UPS stated that packages in the process of being shipped that are unable to be delivered will be returned to the sender without charge when possible. FedEx did not state what would happen to packages in transit.

Germany-based logistics company DHL announced that as of Feb. 24, all offices in Ukraine are closed until further notice. 

Shipments between Denmark and Ukraine are suspended and new shipments will not be accepted at all in Ukraine, DHL stated. Road transport of packages between Denmark and Russia was suspended by DHL last week. 

New freight shipments to and from Russia will only be accepted by DHL with "prior arrangement," according to the company.

"The already critical situation for border crossings to/from Russia has now deteriorated further in the light of the ongoing conflict," DHL stated.