Ukraine says the An-225 Mriya, the world's largest cargo aircraft, was destroyed in fighting with Russia

10:59 AM
Antonov AN-225
The Antonov An-225 "Mriya."

GLEB GARANICH/Reuters

  • Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs confirmed on Sunday that the only An-225 aircraft had been destroyed.
  • The An-225 Mriya held multiple records, including heaviest aircraft ever built and largest cargo plane in operational service.

There's yet another victim of the conflict underway in Ukraine: the only Antonov An-225 "Mriya" ("Dream" in Ukrainian).

The Mriya (NATO reporting name: Cossack) was designed at the end of Cold War and its purpose was to carry the Soviet "Buran" space shuttle and parts of the "Energia" rocket on its back. It operated as the primary method of transporting the Buran-class orbiters from 1988 to 1991.

After remaining unused for some years, it was put back in service by Antonov Airlines, a Ukrainian cargo airline, a division of the Antonov aviation company, operating international charter services in the oversized-cargo market with a fleet that included also An-124 Ruslan cargos.

Since then, the An-225 has been used for heavy airlift supporting also international disaster-relief operations transporting huge quantities of emergency supplies as happened during Covid-19 pandemic.

Antonov AN-225
The An-225 Mriya was the largest cargo aircraft in operational service.

Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters

The Antonov An-225 Mriya held multiple records which included being the heaviest aircraft ever built, the largest wingspan of any aircraft in operational service and the largest cargo aircraft in operational service.

The fate of the gigantic aircraft had been already under focus in the early stages of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As we have reported, posts on social media claimed the lone operational An-225 Mriya had been "damaged" during a battle for Antonov Airport, also called "Hostomel" or "Gostomel" Airport.

Then tweets and posts appeared suggesting the aircraft had survived the initial Battle of Antonov Airport. "The only thing that is absolutely certain about the An-225 as of this hour, is that nothing is certain," we wrote.

As of February 24, 2022, the aircraft was still intact.

However, images coming from the airport on Sunday, February 27, showed the very same hangar used to host the Mriya in fire, suggesting the aircraft had been destroyed.

After a few hours, the first official confirmations have arrived.

Still, Antonov has not confirmed the reports yet.

We will update the post as new details/confirmations emerge.

Read the original article on Business Insider


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