Canada Post Suspends Mail Service to Russia and Belarus – Advises on Shipments to Ukraine
Canada Post suspended air package services to Russia and Belarus and will not accept any mail pieces to either country. The suspension became effective on March 10, 2022.
As we have outlined in our post regarding shipping to Russia and Ukraine, the availability of air transport to Russia and Belarus is significantly impacted by sanctions prohibiting flights by Western airlines to either country.
In addition, Aeroflot, Russia’s main carrier is also no longer flying internationally, except for Belarus.
Canada Post did not say what will happen to mail that has already been sent before this service suspension came into effect.
Most likely, if the mail is still in Canada, it will likely be returned to the sender. If the mail already had reached a European hub city, it may be stuck for a long time, or it may be returned. We suggest shippers monitor tracking data from Canada Post.
With previous suspensions to countries due to Covid-19 outbreaks, Priority Worldwide was often still operating as the service is transported and delivered by Canada Post partner FedEx. This will not be the case here as FedEx has also suspended operations to and from Russia and Belarus.
Canada Post Advisory for Shipping to Ukraine
Shippers can still send mail and parcels to Ukraine as the Ukrainian postal operator is still operational in areas not as impacted by Russia’s invasion of the country.
Ukraine Post has issued an advisory to global postal operators asking them to send items to neighboring EU countries from which they will be picked up and delivered. Shippers should expect delays and slower delivery.
In addition, Canada Post said that Ukraine Post requests that shippers sending humanitarian goods write the following on the package in capital letters:
“HUMANITARIAN AID (or ГУМАНИТАРНАЯ ПОМОЩЬ)”
Presumably, Ukraine Post will prioritize shipments of humanitarian aid.
Status of regional Ukrainian Postal operations as of 3/24/2022
| Region | Post Office Status |
|---|---|
| Cherkasy | Particaly open. Cherkasy closed. All other places in region are on reduced operating hours - until 15:00 (3 pm) |
| Chernihiv | Occasionally operating, depending on local conditions. Priority is pensions and selling goods. |
| Chernivtsi | Only city post offices. Standard operating hours. |
| Dnipro | Reduced operating hours - until 16:00 (4 pm) |
| Donetsk | Reduced operating hours - until 15:00 (3 pm) |
| Ivano-Frankivsk | No postal exchange in Ivano-Frankivsk until 18:00 (6pm). Other places in region are operating under standard operating hours. |
| Kharkiv | Only mobile post offices in safe areas. Most offices are closed. |
| Kherson | Partially open (11 out of 25 offices in Kherson are operating) |
| Khmelnytsky | Reduced operating hours - until 17:00 (5 pm) |
| Kirovohrad | Reduced operating hours - until 16:00 (4 pm) |
| Kyiv | Partially open, subhect to staff availabilty |
| Luhansk | Reduced operating hours |
| Lviv | Reduced operating hours |
| Mykolayiv | Mykolayiv closed. Other places in region reduced operating hours - until 15:00 (3pm) |
| Odesa | Reduced operating hours - until 16:00 (4 pm) |
| Poltava | Reduced operating hours - until 15:00 (3 pm) / 16:00 (4 pm) / 17:00 (5 pm) |
| Rivne | Reduced operating hours - until 16:00 (4 pm) |
| Sumy | Reduced operating hours - 10:00 (10 am) until 15:00 (3 pm) |
| Temopil | Reduced operating hours |
| Vinnytsia | Reduced operating hours - until 16:00 (4 pm) |
| Volyn | Reduced operating hours - until 17:00 (5 pm) |
| Zakarpattia | Standard operating hours, no postal exchange |
| Zaporizhzhia | Only post office operating reduced opening hours |
| Zhytomyr | Reduced operating hours - until 15:00 (3 pm) |
We will provide updates to this information when it becomes available.
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Richard Meldner
Richard is co-founder of eSeller365. He has over 17 years of experience on eBay which includes tens of thousands of sales to buyers in over 100 countries and even has experience with eBay’s VeRO program enforcing intellectual property rights for a former employer. And for about two years Richard sold products on Amazon using Amazon FBA in the US.
To “relax” from the daily business grind, for a few weekends a year, he also works for IMSA as a professional race official.