New Delhi: The largest aircraft in the world, the Antonov AN-225, was destroyed during a Russian attack on an airfield near Kyiv Sunday, Ukraine’s official Twitter account said.
Ukrainian state defense company Ukroboronprom, which manages Antonov, said the airplane had been on the ground at Gostomel Airport since 24 February undergoing repair and maintenance. “One of the engines was dismantled for repairs and the plane wasn’t able to take off that day,” the company said in a statement.
The company also said the aircraft — named “Mriya” or “dream” in Ukrainian — would be “rebuilt again at Russia’s expense” and put the restoration cost at $3 billion. It also estimated that it will take over 5 years to complete the process.
“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!” wrote Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Twitter.
Although there has been no confirmation of the aircraft’s destruction, the Antonov Company tweeted that it cannot report on the “technical condition” until it has been inspected by experts.
According to the Antonov website, the AN-225 made its first flight on 21 December 1988 taking off from the factory aerodrome in Svyatoshyn.
A CNN report said that the aircraft was sometimes drafted in to help airlift aid during crises in other countries. It had delivered relief supplies to the Dominican Republic in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. It also served to transport medical supplies to affected areas during the early days of the Covid pandemic.