Now it looks like they’ve kept their word, with the company announcing that plans to rebuild it are already underway.
Nicknamed “Mriya” — Ukrainian for “dream” — the massive plane was built in the 1980s to carry the Soviet space shuttle.
Its later life, while slightly less glamorous, was just as iconic — it was the world’s largest cargo carrier, with roughly twice the holding capacity of a Boeing 747, earning it cult status among self-proclaimed agendas. It spanned 84 meters, or 275 feet, with the longest wingspan of any fully operational airplane. To date, it is the heaviest aircraft ever built.
The plane’s nose took a direct hit, according to CNN reporter Vasco Cotivo, who saw it in April.
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Its destruction was announced on 27 February 2022, with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeting that “Russia may have destroyed our Mriya… but they will never be able to destroy our dream of a powerful , a free and democratic European state”.
The Antonov company said at the time that it was unable to verify the plane’s condition, while CNN reporter Vasco Cotovio noted that the nose apparently had “a direct artillery hit” and was “completely destroyed” when he saw it in April. visit.
“There was extensive damage to the wings and some of the engines. The tail section had no major impacts and has a few holes either from shrapnel or bullets,” he said at the time, predicting that repair would be unlikely.
On Monday, however, the Antonov company announced in a tweet that the rebuilding project had already begun, with “design work” already in the pipeline. While it had estimated the cost of repairs, the company projected a bill of more than 500 million euros ($502 million) to get it back on the air, promising more information “after the victory.”
Already the company has about 30% of the components needed to build a new one, he announced.
Initially, Ukrainian state defense company Ukroboronprom, which operates Antonov, issued a statement estimating the recovery at more than $3 billion — which it pledged to pay Russia. The reconstruction will take at least five years, he said at the time.
It will cost more than $502 million to rebuild, the company said.
Mateusz Wlodarczyk/NurPhoto/Getty Images
The announcement coincides with the launch of an exhibition dedicated to the plane at Leipzig/Halle Airport in Germany, which is home to five other Antonov aircraft. “Light and Shadow: The Antonov story” shows photos of the aircraft before and after its destruction, focusing on the engineering capability lost when it was attacked. It will be on display until the end of December.
At the opening, Oleksiy Makeiev, Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, announced that although he had flown “almost all AN aircraft, the Mriya remained a dream for me,” in a statement released by the company.
“We hope it will be restored and we will see this mighty bird in the sky again,” he added.
In the meantime, if you’re missing Mriya, you can make your own — or, at least, your own model. Ukrainian startup Metal Time sells engineering kits of the AN-225. Each cost $99, and profits go directly to Antonov to fund the rebuilding of the Mriya, as well as relocating Antonov employees whose homes have been destroyed by the Russian invasion and training new Ukrainian pilots and aviation engineers.
Jacopo Prisco and Jack Guy contributed to this report
