Latest news with #post-Soviet
Time of India
13 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
McDonald's opens more outlets in Ukraine amidst war against Russia. Here's how American fast-food chain making profits in wartime economy
McDonald's had finally reached Ukraine's remote, alpine region of Transcarpathia, and the locals could not be happier. The much-acclaimed arrival of McDonald's in Transcarpathia signals an unexpected trend for the iconic American fast-food chain: In wartime Ukraine, business is booming. McDonald's stated it plans to open about 10 new outposts in Ukraine this year, pushing its total of operational restaurants to nearly 120, more than before Russia's invasion over three years ago. Across the country, city councils are vying to secure a McDonald's restaurant, knowing the chain will bring jobs and increase local tax revenues, as per a report. McDonald's in Ukraine It is also a testament to Ukraine's rebounding wartime economy. Having secured dozens of billions in financial aid from allies and having avoided runaway inflation, Ukraine is now drawing back Western companies that fled early in the war, including Swedish furniture giant Ikea and Spanish fashion brand Zara. Ukraine's economy is projected to grow by 2 per cent to 3 per cent this year, the third consecutive year of growth, although economic output remains below prewar levels, NYT News Service reported. This success builds on a long-running love affair between a post-Soviet country and an American brand, a reflection of Ukraine's growing embrace of Western lifestyle, as per the NYT News Service report. McDonald's in Kyiv Live Events McDonald's opened its first restaurant in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, in 1997. The company's arrival was a major attraction in a country that had gained independence from the Soviet Union just six years earlier and was only beginning to open to the West. Crowds lined up for days to get a taste of the chain's storied burgers. As the company expanded its footprint, Ukrainians' enthusiasm only grew. In 2011, the McDonald's restaurant at Kyiv's central train station ranked as the second-busiest in the world. Ukrainian children love celebrating their birthdays at McDonald's, while students often grab Big Macs after late-night parties. McDonald's during Russia-Ukraine After Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine in early 2022, McDonald's closed all of its restaurants. Some establishments, in cities such as Kherson and Melitopol, were destroyed or fell under Russian occupation. Meanwhile, the brand exited the Russian market, joining a wave of departing Western companies. As Russia's initial invasion foundered and its troops pulled back to eastern Ukraine, life cautiously returned to Kyiv. Kuleba urged Blinken to encourage McDonald's to resume operations. "Life is coming back," he recalled telling him during a call. "I think it would send a powerful message if McDonald's came back, too." When the chain reopened in Kyiv in September 2022, people lined for hours -- a scene reminiscent of its post-Soviet debut. The reopenings have not come without risk. The same Kyiv outpost that first opened in 1997 has been damaged several times in Russian attacks, most recently during a January drone and missile strike that shattered its storefront, blowing out its windows. It has since reopened. FAQs Q1. What is capital of Ukraine? A1. The capital of Ukraine is Kyiv. Q2. When did McDonald's open first restaurant? A2. McDonald's opened its first restaurant in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, in 1997.
Novaya Gazeta Europe
2 days ago
- Politics
- Novaya Gazeta Europe
Picking your battles. Novaya Europe analysed almost 40,000 protests to see how Russia's war in Ukraine has changed civil society — Novaya Gazeta Europe
Three's a crowd The Russian constitution guarantees the right to peaceful assembly, rallies, demonstrations, marches and pickets. In practice, street protests are prohibited. No wonder, then, that their number has declined sharply in the past three years. But other, safer ways — petitions, legal appeals, video messages — are gaining in popularity. The authorities usually find a far-fetched reason to stop protests going ahead, such as a rally risking the spread of the coronavirus, according to OVD-Info. Yet people continue to take to the streets to solve non-political issues in the areas of housing and utilities, urban development and the environment. Petitions and appeals to the authorities are a safe alternative to street protests. 'Although petitions aren't direct action, they are currently the most readily available tool of pressure,' a former local councillor and teacher explains. 'Of course, people would make a greater statement if they came out onto the streets. But that's fairly unrealistic now.' One expert calls this 'petitioning the tsar'. People complaining to the authorities means they recognise their legitimacy. A member of PS Lab, an autonomous research group focusing on politics and society in Russia and post-Soviet regions, says that in autocracies, appeals and petitions remain one of the few legal and relatively safe ways for people to fight for their rights. 'Ultra-patriots' and communists Before the war, Alexey Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) was the main instigator of protests in the country. The movement unleashed the largest protest of the 2010s. In January 2021, Russia declared the foundation extremist, meaning it was banned from taking part in elections or protests, and three years later Navalny died in a penal colony in the Arctic Circle. Over the past three years, political parties and other movements have only organised 15% of protests. Mainstream political forces cannot now criticise Putin or the war, though parties such as the Communist Party and the Liberal Democratic Party can still speak out on local problems such as housing, utilities, education, healthcare and urban planning. Ultra-patriotic sentiments are also much more noticeable in the regions. They form 6% of all protests. Their main mouthpiece is the National Liberation Movement (NLM), whose members petition for 'emergency powers for Putin' or to 'annul Gorbachev's decisions'. They protest in support of the war and against 'foreign agents'. They hand out their newspaper The National Course and call for nuclear weapons to be aimed at the US. In some cities, such as Irkutsk, NLM activists protest every week and are never detained. But the vast majority of protests are organised and carried out by local people. Over the past three years, political parties and other movements have only organised 15% of protests.
EVN Report
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- EVN Report
Discovering the Soul of Yerevan Wine Days
Lebanese and Syrian Armenian hairdressers are not only shaping tastes in Armenia's dining scene but also redefining its beauty industry, blending global techniques with Middle Eastern hospitality to deliver premium service, creativity, and warmth in Yerevan's top salons. Read more In a quiet Yerevan garage, a multicultural family reimagines identity, space and cuisine. Hummus Kimchi fuses cultural heritage with urban renewal, offering a fresh look at community, creativity, and culinary storytelling in a post-Soviet cityscape. Read more Yerevan Ballet Fest returned to Tumanyan Park, transforming the heart of the city into an open-air stage. With performances by the Bolshoi, Mariinsky, and local companies, the week-long festival brought world-class ballet to thousands under the summer sky. Read more Amid a digital age, film photography finds new life in Yerevan. This personal journey through snowy streets, underground labs, and passionate communities reveals how analog photography reemerged through creativity, limitation and human connection. Read more
Hypebeast
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hypebeast
PUMA x Balenciaga FW25 Nods a True Demna Staple: The Tracksuit
Balenciagahas officially launched its collaboration withPUMA, originally teased last March during the brand'sParis Fashion WeekFW25 runway show. The tie-up, part ofDemna's second-to-last Balenciaga collection, reiterates the tracksuit as a central archetype in the designer's language — one that seeks to subvert long-held ideas of luxury, all with an ironic wink. Theearlier runway presentationwas a tame reprisal of the tenured creative director's lexicon: a toned-down mix of classic and bold-shouldered tailoring, normcore numbers, and form-fitting sportswear dominated by a largely grayscale palette. However, towards the middle of the show, PUMA's inclusion initiated a shift in tone, bringing deep blue and primary red into play and spotlighting Demna's affinity for tracksuits and sweatsuits. In addition to crested football training sets, logo-taped tracksuit separates, and 90s-inspired windbreakers, PUMA's contributions included standard logo caps, socks, gloves, and a PUMA x Balenciaga shopping bag. The collection is also topped with multiple colorways and distressed variants of the Speedcat and an original Ballerina slipper. Though the PUMA assortment stands out from the subdued collection, the designs are quite standard compared to the designer's previous explorations of activewear sets. For SS23,Bella Hadidfronted theadidas x Balenciaga campaign, which blew remixed logo tees, tracksuits, and football jerseys to oversized proportions. Such magnified and surrealistic versions of otherwise familiar activewear silhouettes are omnipresent in Demna's Balenciaga collections. But now, even as one of the key ushers of fashion's oversized era, Demna has expressed that he's through with exploring outsized silhouettes. In a recent interview withDie Zeit,he shared his thoughts on the mass acceptance of oversized fits, stating, 'It's a specific silhouette—one of many possibilities. But right now, I'm very uninterested in oversized fashion. I've been there, I've done that.' Furthermore, Demna toldVoguethe intentions behind his rather pared-back FW25 collection following the March show: 'It's easy to put a chair on the head and say, oh, that's wearable art—or putting a parka upside down, (which) I kind of did for the last 12 years—and I love it, by the way—but also I felt like maybe I had enough of that.' Perhaps this is why the new PUMA collection and the 2024Under Armour partnershipsimilarly present a shift back to largely regular fits and conventional shapes from the designer. Often grouped with the 'post-Soviet' aesthetics of designers likeGosha Rubchinskiy, Demna's undying affinity for athletic styles is more firmly rooted in his identity and upbringing than people may realize. Many have tied certain Demna sensibilities, namely, bootlegged sportswear, counterfeit goods, worker uniforms, and underground subcultural style, to his roots in Soviet Georgia and subsequent years in Ukraine, Russia, and Germany. Demna carried many of these 'post-Soviet' throughlines at every step of his journey, including foundingVetementswith his brotherGuram Gvasaliain 2014. It was 2016 when Vetements famously madeChampioncool again with their inaugural collaboration, which adapted the Champion typeface into a Vetements wordmark. However, introducing these everyday themes into Balenciaga's glamorous Western European ethos completely revolutionized the brand's historic identity. Having publicly renounced oversized fashion and expressed his boredom with the avant-garde, Demna signals that his takeover of the Florentine house could herald a departure from the signatures he has so closely cultivated until this point. Indeed,Gucciis a different animal with a much stronger presence in the public imagination — one that may be much more difficult for Demna to challenge than Balenciaga. Will the designer continue to play with his archetypal Demna themes at Gucci, or is he trying to tell the world that he will showcase a new facet of his capabilities? The PUMA x Balenciaga collection is available nowonlineand at select Balenciaga stores.
Canada News.Net
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Canada News.Net
Officials: Russia strategy group disbanded amid Trump frustration
WASHINGTON, D.C.: A quiet shift inside the Trump administration has stalled a key diplomatic initiative aimed at pushing Russia toward peace talks with Ukraine. According to three U.S. officials, a working group formed earlier this year to explore ways to increase pressure on Moscow has been quietly shelved — a casualty of dwindling presidential interest and sweeping staff changes. Set up by high-ranking members of the White House National Security Council (NSC), the group included officials from the State Department, Pentagon, Treasury, and intelligence community. Its mission was to craft strategies for tightening the screws on Moscow and boosting U.S. leverage in negotiations. However, the group lost momentum by May, as President Donald Trump grew increasingly disillusioned with the pace of progress. "It lost steam toward the end because the president wasn't there," said one U.S. official familiar with the matter. "Instead of doing more, maybe he wanted to do less." The group's demise, which has not been previously reported, adds to growing concern in Europe about Trump's approach to Russia, particularly ahead of a key NATO summit this month. On June 16, speaking at the G7 in Canada, Trump repeated that removing Russia from the old G8 alliance had been a mistake. The final blow came about three weeks ago when most of the NSC's Ukraine team was dismissed in a broader White House shake-up. Among those removed was Andrew Peek, the top NSC official for Europe and Russia. Though it's unclear who ordered the effort to halt, officials say the scale of NSC personnel cuts made its continuation impractical. While the group never finalized its recommendations, officials say ideas on the table included economic deals to loosen post-Soviet countries' ties to Moscow, covert operations, and incentives for Kazakhstan to enforce sanctions better. The Kazakhstani embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment. The working group had emerged in March or April as some of Trump's advisers began questioning Putin's willingness to deal and hoped Trump might shift to a tougher stance. In late March, Trump told NBC News he was "furious" and "pissed off" at Putin's comments about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. An April 1 NSC statement to Reuters cited "deep frustration with the Russian government over negotiations." But frustration eventually gave way to fatigue. Despite campaign promises to end the war on "day one," Trump has grown increasingly doubtful about his ability to deliver. Officials say he has recently floated abandoning U.S. mediation efforts altogether. Meanwhile, Trump has seen little success in other peace efforts, including in the Middle East, where tensions have escalated sharply between Iran and Israel. A March Reuters report also revealed that parts of the U.S. government had suspended work on countering Russian disinformation and sabotage.
