- Tesla will keep paying Ukrainian employees asked to fight, CNBC reported on Wednesday.
- CNBC published what it says is an internal email to staff from Tesla’s director for Northern Europe.
- It isn’t clear whether the policy applies to Ukrainian Tesla workers worldwide.
Tesla will keep paying Ukrainian employees asked to return home and join the fight against Russia, CNBC reported on Wednesday.
“For any Tesla employees who is a Ukrainian national and has been asked to return to Ukraine for active duty as a reservist, we will maintain their employment and salary for 3 months,” Tesla executives from the company’s Europe, Middle East, and Africa division said in an email to staff seen by CNBC.
The email was sent Monday, nearly two weeks into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, by Axel Tangen, Tesla’s director of Northern Europe. It’s not clear whether the policy applies to Tesla employees around the globe, and the carmaker did not immediately return Insider’s request for comment.
In late February, as Russia amassed troops on the Ukrainian border before the full-blown invasion began, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy activated the country’s military reserves. After Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine began in earnest, Ukrainian officials called on men 18-60 to take up arms and barred most of them from leaving the country. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian nationals living abroad have returned to defend their homeland, according to Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service.
The email, reproduced in full by CNBC, also listed some of the other actions Tesla has taken to support the Ukrainian population as it faces brutal attacks with no end in sight. Tesla employees in Germany helped pack and ship Starlink terminals, produced by Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s SpaceX venture, which provide satellite internet service, the email said. The carmaker also provided Powerwalls, its residential energy-storage product, according to the internal email.
Other major US firms have mobilized to support Ukraine. Airbnb’s CEO said the company would arrange for free housing for up to 100,000 refugees. Dozens of giants like McDonald’s, Apple, Ikea, Spotify, and Disney announced they would pause or permanently end activities in Russia.
