The Ukrainian public group Okroboronprom announced on Sunday that the world’s largest Antonov 225 aircraft was destroyed in Russian strikes on an airport near Kiev, which is witnessing fierce battles.
The group said in a statement that “the Russians destroyed the most prominent Ukrainian planes” at the Antonov airport in Gostomel, where the plane was “undergoing repairs.”
This plane is unique in the world, with a length of 84 meters and can transport up to about 250 tons of cargo at a speed of up to 850 kilometers per hour. It was called “Mria”, meaning “dream” in Ukrainian.
“Russia has destroyed Maria, but it will not be able to destroy our dream of a strong, free and democratic European state. We will win,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter.
The announcement came at a time when Gostomel Airport has witnessed violent clashes since the start of the Russian attack on Ukraine Thursday, and the Russian army is trying to control this strategic infrastructure.
Okroboronprom Group estimated that repairing the Maria would cost more than $3 billion and take more than five years.
The aircraft was initially built as part of Soviet aviation programmes, in particular to transport the Buran space shuttle, and made its first flight in 1988.
After several years of inactivity due to lack of resources following the fall of the Soviet Union, a test flight of the only existing version of the aircraft was conducted in 2001 in Gostomel, about 20 kilometers from Kiev.
And then it was operated by the Ukrainian airline Antonov Airlines for freight flights on demand, and the demand for it was high, especially at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.