Updated
Updated · ThePrint · Aug 18
Kyiv’s First McDonald’s Reopens 9 Times After Russia’s Attacks
Updated
Updated · ThePrint · Aug 18

Kyiv’s First McDonald’s Reopens 9 Times After Russia’s Attacks

3 articles · Updated · ThePrint · Aug 18

Summary

  • At least nine reopenings have kept Kyiv’s first McDonald’s operating since Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion forced all 109 Ukrainian outlets to shut.
  • A May 2026 barrage of 90 missiles and 600 drones again damaged the landmark—melting its golden arches, tearing walls with shrapnel and burning a neighboring mall.
  • The 1997 restaurant has endured earlier upheavals too, staying a city landmark through the 2013-14 Maidan Revolution and now serving soldiers, couriers and nearby residents during the war.
  • McDonald’s kept paying 10,000 employees while stores were closed, later resumed operations in Ukraine, and permanently left Russia, where its 850 outlets did not reopen.

Insights

As Russia rushes its Rassvet satellite network to rival Starlink, will this new space race fundamentally tip the battlefield balance against Ukraine?
With Patriot missile stocks critically depleted until 2029, how will Ukraine defend its skies against relentless and escalating aerial bombardments?
Could Turkey's potential transfer of controversial cluster munitions and ATACMS to Ukraine completely shatter its delicate mediator role with Moscow?