FILE PHOTO: A woman speaks on the phone outside a closed McDonald's restaurant in Kyiv, Ukraine February 25, 2022. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
(Reuters) -McDonald's Corp said on Thursday it plans on reopening its restaurants in Ukraine over the next few months in an early sign of western businesses returning to the country, even as the conflict with Russia continues.
The company closed all its restaurants in Ukraine and Russia in March, with McDonald's selling most of its restaurants in Russia to one of its local licensees in May.
"After extensive consultation and discussion with Ukrainian officials, suppliers, and security specialists, and in consideration of our employees' request to return to work, we have decided to institute a phased plan to reopen some restaurants in Kyiv and western Ukraine" Paul Pomroy, McDonald's head of international operated markets, said in a message to employees.
The company said it was working with suppliers to get products to restaurants and bringing employees back on site with enhanced safety protocols.
McDonald's had 109 restaurants in Ukraine, but did not specify how many it planned to reopen.
(Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Shounak Dasgupta)
