McDonald's reopens in Ukraine, feeding customers' nostalgia — and future hopes

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Customers and delivery couriers line up at a newly reopened McDonald's in Kyiv on Tuesday. Three locations in Kyiv reopened for the first time since Russia's invasion on Feb. 24. Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto via Getty Images hide caption

Customers and delivery couriers line up at a newly reopened McDonald's in Kyiv on Tuesday. Three locations in Kyiv reopened for the first time since Russia's invasion on Feb. 24.

KYIV, Ukraine — McDonald's has reopened in Ukraine, after seven months of war.

The American fast food chain temporarily closed its more than 100 Ukrainian locations on Feb. 24, the day Russia invaded, citing the safety of employees.

Three locations reopened on Tuesday, welcoming war-weary Ukrainians back beneath the warm glow of the golden arches. Regular citizens and high government officials alike flocked to snap selfies with their Big Macs and devour meals they haven't been able to enjoy in months.

"It's a nice gift from McDonald's," says Yaroslav Holovatenko, as he clutches a Big and Tasty — a quarter-pounder — in a cold and rainy park in Pozniaky, an outer neighborhood of the capital Kyiv near all three of the reopened McDonald's.

Holovatenko and his friends have come from the other side of the city, across the Dnipro River. But this pilgrimage to McDonald's is more than a crosstown trek. It's about nostalgia too — and hope for the future.

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Yaroslav Holovatenko (left) and a friend with their McDonald's meals in Kyiv on Wednesday. Ashley Westerman/NPR hide caption

Yaroslav Holovatenko (left) and a friend with their McDonald's meals in Kyiv on Wednesday.

"When the war began, nobody was thinking about McDonald's, but now that things have begun to return to normal, it's nice to have some comfort food," he says.

Since the Russians retreated from the suburbs of Kyiv in April, as many as 3 million people have returned to the city, according to Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko.

"In recent months, we've become convinced that our reopening will return a small, albeit important, sense of normalcy to Ukraine," Paul Pomroy, McDonald's senior vice president, posted on the company's Ukrainian Instagram page in August. "Ukraine's leaders have said that returning to work is the best way for foreign companies to support the local economy and the Ukrainian nation."

And Holovatenko is not taking this meal for granted.

Business McDonald's is leaving Russia, after more than 30 years

He is originally from Donetsk, which is set to hold a referendum — along with three other Russian-occupied regions — this weekend on whether to become part of the Russian Federation. If Russia annexes these regions, it means Donetsk won't have any McDonald's either. The chain has closed all of its locations in Russia, where local franchisees replaced McDonald's with a not-so-subtle knock-off.

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Glovo food delivery couriers wait to pick up orders outside a McDonald's restaurant after the chain reopened in Kyiv on Tuesday. Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters hide caption