The World’s Largest Cargo Aircraft Destroyed In Russian Attack
Hush Gist
28 February 2022
The World’s Largest Cargo Aircraft has been destroyed In a Russian attack, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
According to reports, the Ukraine’s Antonov An-225 Mriya which is the world’s largest Cargo Airplane was destroyed by Russian forces during the “special military operation” in Ukraine
Ukraine’s State Defense Conglomerate Ukroboronprom, which manages Antonov, stated this in a statement issued on Sunday. He noted that the aircraft had been destroyed but would be rebuilt at Russia’s expense — a cost it put at $3 billion.
“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.
The enormous aircraft, named “Mriya,” or “dream” in Ukrainian, was parked at an airfield near Kyiv when it was attacked by “Russian occupants,” Ukrainian authorities said, adding that they would rebuild the plane.
There has been no independent confirmation of the aircraft’s destruction. A tweet from the Antonov Company said it could not verify the “technical condition” of the aircraft until it had been inspected by experts.
Satellite images from Maxar Technologies show significant damage to part of the hangar in which the AN-225 is stored.
Meanwhile, NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System detected multiple fires at the airport, including at the hangar where the plane is kept. The fire at the hangar was detected at 11:13 a.m. on Sunday, according to the NASA data, which is obtained from a number of NOAA and NASA satellites.
It is not clear if these fires at the airport are the result of actual fires or explosions from military strikes.
