According to Ukrainian officials, the world’s largest aeroplane, the Antonov AN-225, was destroyed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, causing fear and regret in the aviation industry, where it enjoys nearly cult status.
The massive aeroplane, known in Ukrainian as “Mriya,” or “dream,” was parked at an airfield near Kyiv when it was assaulted by “Russian occupants,” according to Ukrainian police, who added that the jet would be rebuilt.
“Our ‘Mriya’ may have been destroyed by Russia. They will, however, never be able to derail our vision of a robust, free, and democratic European state. We’re going to win! “Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, posted on Twitter.
There has been no independent confirmation that the plane was shot down.
The Antonov Company claimed in a tweet that it couldn’t confirm the plane’s “technical condition” until it was evaluated by experts.
Ukroboronprom, the Ukrainian state military firm that manages Antonov, said on Sunday that the plane had been damaged but that it will be rebuilt at Russia’s expense at a cost of $3 billion.
The repair is expected to take more than 3 billion dollars and five years, according to the statement. “Our mission is to ensure that the Russian Federation, which has intentionally harmed Ukraine’s aviation and air cargo sectors, pays for these expenditures.”
The business then stated that the plane had been undergoing maintenance on the ground near Kyiv on February 24.
“One of the engines was dismantled for maintenance, according to the director of Antonov Airlines, and the jet was unable to take off that day, despite the required directives being given,” it stated.
On Friday, Russian forces claimed to have taken control of Hostomel airstrip, where the AN-225 was stationed. Russian airborne troops were seen taking up positions by a CNN team on the ground.
Maxar Technologies satellite photographs show considerable damage to a section of the hangar where the AN-225 is stored.
Meanwhile, NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System identified many fires at the airfield, including in the plane’s hangar. According to NASA data acquired from a number of NOAA and NASA satellites, the fire at the hangar was discovered at 11:13 a.m. on Sunday.
It’s unclear whether the fires at the airport are caused by actual fires or by explosions caused by military attacks.
If true, the attack would be a shocking end to a plane that has been in service for more than 30 years, dating back to the Soviet Union’s days.
During times of crisis in other countries, the AN-225 was called in to assist in airlifting aid. It carried relief goods to the Dominican Republic in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. It was used to bring medical supplies to impacted areas during the early days of the Covid outbreak.
Because of its fame in the aviation community, it drew big crowds wherever it went, especially when it made celebrity visits at air shows.
On Sunday, several of its supporters flocked to social media to voice their displeasure with reports that the plane had been destroyed.
On Twitter, aviation blogger Sam Chui remarked, “Mriya – You will always be remembered!”
Mriya is still the heaviest aeroplane ever produced today. She has a maximum payload weight of 250 tonnes, which may be carried inside or on its back, and is powered by six turbofan engines. It has the widest wingspan of any aircraft currently in service.
The Kiev-based Antonov company, which came up with the design, only produced one An-225. It took to the skies for the first time in 1988 and has been in service ever since.
A second plane was under construction, but it was never completed.
The An-225’s storey began in the 1960s and 1970s, when the Soviet Union and the United States were involved in a space competition.
By the end of the 1970s, there was a demand for huge and heavy goods to be transported from their points of origin to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, a sprawling spaceport in Kazakhstan’s deserts that was the launchpad for Yuri Gagarin’s 1961 pioneering space journey.
The Buran spacecraft, the Soviet Union’s equivalent to NASA’s Space Shuttle, was the payload in question. Because there were no aeroplanes capable of carrying it at the time, the Antonov company was tasked with developing one.
