Russia-Ukraine war: Ukraine on Monday said Russia had destroyed the biggest plane in the world AN-225 ‘Mriya’ (Dream in Ukrainian) on an airfield near its capital city, Kyiv. "We will rebuild the plane. We will fulfil our dream of a strong, free, and democratic Ukraine," it said in a post on Twitter.
Ukraine-Russia LIVE: Russian army says Ukraine civilians can 'freely' leave Kyiv
All you need to know about the biggest cargo plane - Mriya
- Mriya, the six-engine aircraft, is 84 meters long and has a wingspan of about 88 meters. The plane first flew in December 1988 and holds records for transporting the biggest commercial cargo.
- Mriya holds records for transportation of biggest commercial cargo and longest and heaviest in the history of aviation monoloading, lifting capacity.
- Mriya, the Antonov-225 cargo plane, was destroyed by Russian forces while it was under repair at an airfield in Gostomel near Kyiv.
- Ukraine's aerospace and defense company Ukroboronprom said that An-225 will be restored at the expense of the occupant (Russia).
- The aerospace company said it will cost over $3 billion to restore the plane, the restoration is likely to take 5 years.
- Antonov Airlines director today informed that one of the engines of Mriya was dismantled for repairs and the plane wasn’t able to take off that day.
- Currently it is impossible to assess the plane’s condition and the possibility and cost of its restoring due the lack of access to the aircraft as the control over the airport is taken by the Russian occupiers, the company said.
Ukraine foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba too shared the picture of the biggest plane on Twitter and wrote: “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!".
