American peer-to-peer lodging service Airbnb is putting its operations in Russia and Belarus on hold, the company’s CEO Brian Chesky has said.
“Airbnb is suspending all operations in Russia and Belarus,” Chesky announced in a tweet on Friday.
The US entrepreneur had a Ukrainian flag added to his name on Twitter, which suggests the move is likely a response to Russia’s invasion of the country.
On Monday, Chesky said Airbnb was offering short-term housing for free to some 100,000 Ukrainian refugees.
According to the UN, more than one million or 2% of the population have fled Ukraine after Moscow began its offensive last Thursday.
The people have been heading to Poland, Russia, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia and other countries in order to find safety.
Apple, IKEA and H&M were among the other prominent foreign brands to suspend their operations in Russia over the Ukrainian conflict.
Moscow insists that its incursion was required to protect the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk in the southeastern Donbass region from “genocide” perpetrated by Kiev, and avert a largescale Ukrainian attack on those areas. The goal of the operation is to “denazify” and “demilitarize” the government in Kiev, not to occupy Ukraine, according to the Russian side.
However, Ukraine has denied Moscow’s justification for the intervention, claiming that an unprovoked war is being waged against it.