Ukraine’s Antonov-225 cargo plane was destroyed by Russian strikes outside Kyiv on the fourth day of Moscow’s invasion, according to Ukraine’s state-owned Ukroboronprom group on Sunday.
“Russian invaders destroyed the flagship of the Ukrainian aviation, the AN-225” at the Antonov airport in Gostomel near Kyiv, the group said in a statement.
The aircraft was one-of-a-kind in the world, measuring 84 meters (276 feet) in length and capable of transporting up to 250 tonnes (551,000 pounds) of cargo at a top speed of 850 kilometers per hour (528 mph).
It was given the name “Mriya,” which translates to “dream” in Ukrainian.
“This was the world’s largest aircraft, AN-225 ‘Mriya’” Ukraine’ Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted Sunday.
“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!”, he added.
Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion, which was launched by President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, violent clashes have occurred at Gostomel airport.
According to the Russian army, it is attempting to seize strategic infrastructure.
Ukroboronprom, a weapons manufacturer, estimated that restoring the “Mriya” would cost more than $3 billion (2.7 billion euros) and take more than five years.
“Our mission is to ensure that these expenses are covered by Russia, which deliberately inflicted damage on Ukraine’s aviation,” the group said.
The An-225 was built as part of the Soviet aeronautical program and flew for the first time in 1988.
After years of not flying since the Soviet Union’s demise, the only surviving copy made a test flight in Gostomel, about 20 kilometers from Kyiv, in 2001.
It was used for cargo flights by Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines and was in high demand at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.