Danone has retired the Prostokvashino brand in Ukraine and introduced a new brand into the market.

The French dairy giant announced the new Prosto Nashe (literally translated from Ukrainian meaning “simply ours”) on Ukraine’s Independence Day yesterday (24 August).

The new brand’s portfolio will include milk, kefir, ryazhanka (a fermented milk product), sour cream and cottage cheese. All products will be produced at one of the Danone plants – in Kremenchuk, Poltava region – from milk supplied to the plant from nearby farms.

Previously, the Ukrainian product line was marketed under the Prostokvashino brand, which stems from Soviet-era cartoon series.

Evgeny Bardzik, marketing manager of Prosto Nashe, stated: “Having left the name in the past, we are taking with us into the future our experience in production, our expertise in the quality of milk and dairy products, our unwavering commitment to support local farmers supplying us with raw materials.”

Andriy Poluektov, the marketing director for Danone’s business in Ukraine, said: “The Prosto Nashe brand in every manifestation, starting from the form and content and ending with each individual element of the identity on the packaging, demonstrates the values it professes: it is, first of all, care for loved ones and relatives, which is manifested in unsurpassed quality and taste.

“Prosto Nashe is not a play on words, but the true essence of the brand, which reminds us of simple values that are important now more than ever,” he added.

Just Food has contacted Danone for further comment.

Last month, the Kremlin took over the company’s Russian operations, as well as assets owned in the country by Danish brewer Carlsberg. Danone, however, insisted that it still owned the seized operations.