Tim Cook sends subtle message to Ukraine at Apple event

Apple has banned Russian news sources and from its App Store and limited services like Apple Pay within Russia

Taking a page out of Apple’s book of incremental updates, CEO Tim Cook added the colours of Ukraine’s flag to his escalating opposition to Russia’s invasion.

Mr Cook wore a blue jumper and yellow Apple Watch band during his keynote address at the company’s spring product announcement event.

The non-verbal communique comes after Apple explicitly confirmed it was stopping all online sales in Russia and stopped exporting products to Russia.

The company also pulled news outlets RT News and Sputnik from its App Store, while Apple Pay and other services were also limited.

The company disabled traffic accident and live incident reports in Apple Maps in Ukraine "as a safety and precautionary measure for Ukrainian citizens".

Mr Cook also told employees Apple would match their donations at a rate of two-to-one, in addition to its own donations to the humanitarian relief efforts.

"I know I speak for everyone at Apple in expressing our concern for all of those affected by the violence," Mr Cook said in the email, reported first by The Verge.

"With each new image of families fleeing their homes and brave citizens fighting for their lives, we see how important it is for people around the world to come together to advance the cause of peace."

Tim Cook wearing blue and yellow (YouTube @Apple)

The move to restrict Apple products and services in Russia comes after a direct request from Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.

Mr Fedorov has made similar appeals to western companies in its cyber and propaganda resistance to Vladimir Putin’s invasion, including to Elon Musk for use of his Starlink satellite internet.

Mr Musk almost immediately provided access and pivoted SpaceX to focus on cyber defence to combat signal jamming over Ukraine.

But he stopped short of censoring Russian news sources "unless at gunpoint". "Sorry to be a free speech absolutist," Mr rMusk tweeted.

Mr Cook had no such reservations in censoring the Russian state-controlled information machines supporting the war against Ukraine and its president, Volodomir Zelensky.

Mr Cook welcomed Mr Zelensky to Apple’s headquarters in California last year, when the president tweeted an image of the pair to push for "expanding Apple’s presence in Ukraine and implementing new ambitious joint projects".