McDonald’s has announced intentions to reopen the Ukrainian locations that were shut down following Russia’s incursion in March.

The fast food restaurant giant expressed its hope that the action would help bring back “a modest but crucial feeling of normalcy.”

In Kyiv and western Ukraine, where it is judged secure, restaurants will gradually reopen over the next months.

Prior to the conflict, Ukraine had more than 100 McDonald’s outlets.

Since then, the business has kept up with paying payments to almost 10,000 employees.

Senior vice president Paul Pomroy stated in a statement on the company’s website that “we have spoken extensively to our staff who have indicated a strong desire to return to work and see our restaurants in Ukraine reopen, where it is safe and responsible to do so.”

“The conviction that this would promote a little but significant sense of normalcy has become stronger over the past several months. Additionally, companies starting up again would help the neighborhood economy and the people of Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials.”

Analysts predict that this year’s war will cause a 35% or more economic collapse in Ukraine, interrupting exports, destroying crucial infrastructure, and forcing the closure of tens of thousands of enterprises.

At a gathering of western business executives sponsored by Yale University in June, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave a speech and urged companies to make investments in the nation.

Numerous embassies in Kyiv have reopened, including the UK’s in April, and he has also noted these occasions.

McDonald’s said that it was coordinating with contractors and suppliers to get the restaurants ready for reopening.

The country is said to have storefronts for various western companies including KFC, Nike, and Zara.

Additionally, McDonald’s shut down all of its locations in Russia in March before selling the majority of them to a regional licensee in May.