The world's largest plane, the Ukrainian Antonov-225 cargo plane, was destroyed by a Russian strike outside Kyiv on the fourth day of the Moscow invasion, Ukraine's government-owned Ukroboronprom Group said Sunday (27/2).
"Russian invaders destroyed the Ukrainian flagship, AN-225" at Antonov Airport in Gostomel near Kyiv, Ukroboronprom said in a statement, as reported by Channel News Asia.
The plane is the largest in the world, with a length of 84 meters, can carry up to 250 tons of cargo at a speed of up to 850 kilometers per hour. Mriya which means dream in Ukrainian is the name of the iron bird.
"This is the largest aircraft in the world, the AN-225 Mriya," tweeted Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Sunday (27/2), as quoted by Channel News Asia.
"Russia may have destroyed our Mriya. But they can never destroy our dream of a strong, free and democratic European state. We will win!" he added.
Gostomel Airport has been the site of fierce fighting since the Russian invasion began.
Weapons maker Ukroboronprom estimates that repairs to Mriya will cost more than $3 billion and could take more than five years.
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"Our mission is to ensure that these costs are borne by Russia, which intentionally inflicts damage on Ukrainian flights," Ukroboronprom said.
Originally built as part of the Soviet Union's aeronautical program, the An-225 made its first flight in 1988.
After years of not flying after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the only An-225 in existence carried out a test flight in 2001 at Gostomel, about 20 kilometers from Kyiv.
Antonov Airlines Ukraine operates the An-225 for cargo flights and was in great demand during the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
