The largest plane in the world, the AN225, was destroyed in the middle of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine

The Antonov AN-225, the world’s largest cargo plane, has fallen victim to the war between Russia and Ukraine.

A symbol of Ukrainian engineering, this plane was in a hangar at the Hostomel airport, a center of Russian attacks.

Days ago, the Russians had attacked that airport, but there was no accurate data on the damage that this plane with the capacity to transport 250 tons could suffer.

The Antonov Company had insisted this week that until the AN225 had been inspected by experts, it could not report on the technical status of the aircraft.

However, the irrefutable proof of the damage suffered by that plane has arrived this Friday, March 4. Russian media went to the base where the plane was located and have shown images of the destroyed ship.

Part of the nose and wings remain from the plane. And there is no doubt that it is the AN225, as its insignia is marked on the fuselage.

The opulent Mriya, which translated means dream, had flown through various airports around the world carrying aircraft parts, helicopters, supplies, among other large-volume cargo. During the pandemic he moved supplies.

NASA’s Fire Information System for Resource Management had detected multiple fires days ago at the airport, including in the hangar where the plane is located. The fire in the hangar was detected at 11:13 on Sunday, according to NASA data.

This aircraft was initially built as part of the Soviet aircraft program, the AN-225 made its first flight in 1988.

After years without flying after the fall of the Soviet Union, the only existing specimen made a test flight in 2001 in Gostomel, about 20 kilometers from Kiev.

Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, had anticipated the damage of the AN225 when he posted a tweet with this message: “This was the largest plane in the world, the AN-225 Mriya (Dream, in Ukrainian). Russia may have destroyed our Mriya. But they can never destroy our dream of a strong, free and democratic European state. We will prevail!” (I)