The plane was severely damaged, according to Ukrainian officials, after Russian soldiers raided a Ukrainian air station in Hostomel, where the plane was stored. While the amount of the damage has not been determined, Ukraine has stated that the renowned plane will be rebuilt.
The world’s largest freight plane, the Antonov AN-225 or ‘Mriya,’ was destroyed by Russian soldiers during an attack on an airfield near Kyiv, Ukrainian authorities revealed Monday, during Moscow’s war on Ukraine.
“This was the world’s largest aircraft, AN-225 ‘Mriya’ (‘Dream’ in Ukrainian). Russia may have destroyed our ‘Mriya’. But they will never be able to destroy our dream of a strong, free and democratic European state. We shall prevail,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated.
The remarkable Antonov AN-225, with a wingspan of almost 290 feet, was constructed in what was then the Ukrainian USSR during the 1980s, during a heated race to space between the US and the Soviet Union. The jet is known in aviation circles as ‘Mriya,’ which means ‘dream’ in Ukrainian, and is known to draw large throngs of fans at air shows across the world.
It was created as part of the Soviet aviation effort to transport the Buran, the Soviet equivalent of the Space Shuttle. When the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991, the Buran programme was cancelled, and the planes were instead employed to haul enormous freight loads.
Only one Antonov AN-225 was ever constructed by the Kyiv-based Antonov Company, the original designers of the plane. It’s essentially a larger version of another Antonoc design, the four-engine An-124 ‘Condor,’ which is now in service with the Russian Air Force.
The plane first flew in 1988 and has been in service ever since. It has recently been utilised to convey humanitarian goods following natural disasters in neighbouring countries. It was utilised to distribute medical supplies in impacted countries during the early days of the Covid epidemic.
Russia has been striking airfields and military bases since commencing its campaign four days ago. Russia said on Friday that it had taken control of the Hostomel airstrip, where the AN-225 was being repaired.
On Sunday, Ukraine’s state-run military company Ukroboronprom, which runs the Antonov Company, stated that Russia had attacked the Mriya as a symbol of Ukraine’s aviation capabilities.
Satellite photographs of the air field, according to CNN, reveal severe damage to the hangar where the jet is housed. At 11:13 a.m. on Sunday, NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System reported a fire at the airport.
Meanwhile, Antonov Company said in a statement that it “cannot inform on the aircraft’s technical status.”
The jet will be refurbished at Russia’s expense at a cost of $3 billion, according to Ukroboronprom. The repair is expected to cost more than $3 billion and take more than five years, according to the business.
“Our mission is to guarantee that these expenditures be reimbursed by the Russian Federation, which has intentionally harmed Ukraine’s aviation and air freight industry,” the statement continued.
