During the fighting in Ukraine destroyed the largest aircraft in the world

According to Ukrainian officials, the world's largest An-225 aircraft was destroyed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, causing alarm and sadness among the aviation world, in which it has almost a cult status. CNN.

Photo: Shutterstock

The huge plane, called "Mriya" or "dream" in Russian, was parked at an airfield near Kiev when it was attacked by "Russian occupiers," Ukrainian authorities said, adding that they would restore the aircraft.

“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 will win!” said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba on Twitter.

There was no independent confirmation of the death of the aircraft. The Antonov company tweeted that it could not check the "technical condition" of the aircraft until it was inspected by experts.

Ukrainian state defense company Ukroboronprom, which owns the Antonov, issued a statement on February 27 saying the aircraft had been destroyed but would be restored at Russian expense at an estimated cost of $3 billion.

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“Restoration is estimated to cost more than $3 billion and take more than five years,” the statement said. “Our task is to ensure that these costs are covered by the Russian Federation, which caused deliberate damage to aviation and cargo aircraft in Ukraine.”

In a later statement, the company said the plane was on the ground near Kiev on February 24 for maintenance.

“According to the director of Antonov Airlines, one of the engines was dismantled for repairs, and the plane could not take off that day, although the appropriate commands were given,” the report says.

Russian forces claimed to have captured the Gostomel airfield, where the An-25 was stationed, on 225 February.

Satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies shows significant damage to the part of the hangar where the An-225 is stored.

Meanwhile, the NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System detected several fires at the airport, including the hangar where the aircraft is stored. The hangar fire was discovered at 11:13 a.m. Feb. 26, according to NASA data from a number of NOAA and NASA satellites.

It is not clear whether these airport fires are the result of real fires or explosions from military strikes.

If this attack is confirmed, it would be a shocking end to an aircraft that has served for more than 30 years since the days of the Soviet Union.

An-225s were sometimes called in to provide air assistance during crises in other countries. After the earthquake in Haiti in 2010, he delivered humanitarian aid to the neighboring Dominican Republic. In the early days of the Covid pandemic, it was used to transport medical supplies to the affected areas.

His popularity in the aviation world meant that he often drew large crowds wherever he appeared, especially when he was a star at air shows.

Some of his fans took to social media on February 26 to express their concern over the claims that the plane had been destroyed. “Mriya - you will always be remembered!” — aviation blogger Sam Chui wrote on Twitter.

To this day, the Mriya remains the heaviest aircraft ever built. Powered by six turbofan engines, it has a maximum payload of 250 tons, which can be carried inside or on its back. It boasts the largest wingspan of any aircraft in service.

Only one An-225 was built by the Kiev company "Antonov", who came up with the project. It first flew in 1988 and has been in service ever since.

The construction of the second aircraft has begun, but it is not possible to continue it now.

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The history of the An-225 begins back in the 1960s and 70s when the Soviet Union was involved in a space race with the United States.

By the end of the 1970s, there was a need to transport oversized and heavy cargo from their assembly sites to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, a spaceport spread in the deserts of Kazakhstan, which became the launch pad for the first space flight of Yuri Gagarin in 1961.

The cargo in question was the Buran spacecraft, the Soviet Union's answer to NASA's Space Shuttle. Since at that time there were no aircraft capable of carrying it, the Antonov firm was commissioned to develop it.

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