It was the largest cargo plane in the world, and the pride of Ukraine. The Antonov An-225 was destroyed in its hangar at Hostomel airport near Kiev, during the February 24 Russian offensive against Ukraine.
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It was the giant of the skiesthe Holy Grail for fans of photography aircraft which saw it land at Paris-Vatry airport in April 2020 to deliver 150 tons of cargo to fight against the pandemic. The Antonov An-225, otherwise known as Mriya, for “dream”, was destroyed during the attack on Hostomel airport, which is located northwest of Kiev, on February 24. At first, information on the fate of the largest flying freighter was divergent, but satellite images seem to confirm the destruction of the Mriya in its gigantic hangar. In its press release, the group Ukroboronprom who operated the freighter said the An-225 would be restored. A project that could last about five years and whose bill, around 3 billion dollars, could be sent to… Russia, proof that Ukraine remains persuaded to win against its invader.
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! pic.twitter.com/TdnBFlj3N8
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) February 27, 2022
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba explains that the An-225, the pride of the country, was probably destroyed by the Russian invader. © Twitter @Dmytro Kuleba
A legacy from Soviet times
This unique aircraft accumulated records. the An-225 Mriya had a wingspan of 88.4 meters, for a length of 84 meters. It was propelled by six turbojets Ivchenko-Progress D-18T, designed in Ukraine. These are the same ones found on the An-124, which also served as the basis for its development. In addition to its use for the rapid delivery of humanitarian cargo, this freighter was operated by many armies, including France, to quickly project bulky military equipment into theaters of operations. With a mass maximum at take-off of 640 tons, it could take on board up to 253 tons of freight. He thus carried in the tunes a single load of 186 tons and transported the longest part (42.1 meters).
The Mriya is a legacy from the USSR. It was built during the 1980s to serve the Soviet space program and in particular to transport on its backshuttle Buran. It was operational in 1988. A second copy was planned, but the fall of the Soviet Union put an end to this project. Symbolically, this aircraft single link between the Soviet past and our present.
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