As Russia pounded the Ukraine, many Western countries including the U.S. and Europe passed tough sanctions on several Russian companies. By Friday, social media company Meta stopped monetization on its Facebook and Instagram app by top Russian media companies. Twitter is also monitoring the information flow on its app and Elon Musk has offered Starlink internet connectivity to Ukraine, after being asked for it by Mykhailo Fedorov. Now, the country is asking private tech such as Apple to do its part.

On Friday, Mykhailo Fedorov, who is the Ukrainian Minister of digital transformation, posted on Twitter that he had asked Tim Cook, CEO of Apple to block its App Store for Russian citizens and to stop the sale of Apple devices and products for users in Russia.

Fedorov, who is also the Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine said that such actions from Apple would motivate the youth and active population in Russia to “proactively stop the disgraceful military aggression.”

Apple plays a major role in the smartphone category in Russia. It is the third most popular brand in the country with a 15 percent market share while Xiaomi has 26 percent and Samsung has the largest share at 34 percent.

On February 25, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that he was “deeply concerned” about the happenings in Ukraine and that their teams “will be supporting local humanitarian efforts.” He said that he was thinking of the people who were “in harm’s way” and joined all those who were calling for peace.

The Apple App store is operating in Russia. However, Apple Pay is not working as the U.S. government has sanctioned banks. Earlier, Business Insider reported that Russia’s central bank said that customers of banks that have been hit by sanctions have not been able to use both Apple Pay and Google Pay.