Shipping group Maersk said on Thursday it has halted all port calls in Ukraine until the end of February and has shut its main office in Odessa on the Black Sea coast, as a consequence of the conflict with neighboring Russia.

"Services in Russia remain available while we have decided not to call any ports in Ukraine until 28 February and stop acceptance orders to and from Ukraine up until further notice," a Maersk spokesperson said.

All of the company's 60 employees in Ukraine were at home and safe, the spokesperson added.

Maersk has two container shipping routes in Ukraine and they call at the port of Pivdenniy some 30 kilometers (19 miles) east of Odessa.