GlaxoSmithKline has said it will continue to supply essential health products to people in Russia as the war continues to rage in Ukraine.

The pharmaceutical giant, which has stopped advertising its products in Russia, also pledged to stop all promotion-related activities in the country and insisted it would not enrol any new patients on to existing clinical trials there or start any new trials.

In a statement, GSK said all profits made from its operations in Russia in the meantime will go towards supporting humanitarian relief efforts. The company said it is doing everything it can to keep the 400 people it employs in Ukraine "stay safe in very difficult condition".

GSK has donated over £3m to the Red Cross and Save the Children to help people in Ukraine and refugees on the border and £250,000 to the non-governmental organisation Crown Agents which works alongside Ukraine’s Ministry of Health to fund 2,500 medical trauma kits.

Talks are ongoing between GSK and Crown Agents on how to continue getting medicines into Ukraine. The company, which has provided antibiotics, asthma medicine, epilepsy treatments and pain relief products from its warehouse near Kyiv, said it is also in talks with UNICEF to get childhood vaccines to Poland where 1.8 million refugees have arrived.

GSK’s employees globally have donated more than £280,000 to Save the Children and Red Cross and the company promised to match that.