Multinational corporations began closing their operations in Ukraine and moving employees to safety on Thursday, as executives grappled with the implications of a full-scale invasion by Russia and the impact of widely swinging stock and commodity prices.
Carlsberg, one of the world’s largest brewers, said it had suspended operations at two factories near heavy Russian assaults, in eastern Ukraine and in Kyiv, in order to protect workers. The Danish conglomerate, which employs 1,300 people in the country, mostly Ukrainian nationals, also temporarily closed a third brewery in Lviv after its natural gas supplies were disrupted.
The swiftness of Russia’s multipronged assault sent shudders through international boardrooms and raised questions for businesses about how to confront the rapidly shifting geopolitical landscape.
“Today is a dark day for all of us. The attack on Ukraine represents a turning point in Europe; a war was simply unthinkable for many people,” Christian Bruch, the chief executive of Siemens Energy, said at the German company’s general meeting Thursday. “We as a company now have to analyze exactly what this situation means for our business.”
As recently as last week, foreign companies in Ukraine had contingency plans in place, but for the most part didn’t believe that Russia would invade, Anna Derevyanko, the deputy director of the European Business Association, said at the time.
That shifted rapidly in the early hours of Thursday, as Russian airstrikes hit...
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