Explained | The significance of Mriya, the world’s largest aircraft destroyed in the Russia-Ukraine conflict

Mriya, the world’s largest cargo aircraft, was destroyed during an attack on an airfield near Ukraine by Russian forces.

The story so far: The Ukrainian government announced on Sunday that Antonov An-225 or Mriya, the biggest aeroplane in the world, was destroyed by Russian forces on an airfield near Kyiv. Fighting continued in Ukraine for the fifth day after Russian President Vladimir Putin had announced a military operation in the neighbouring country on February 24, 2022.

Mriya was housed at the Antonov International Airport near Hostomel, northwest of capital city Kyiv where it was destroyed during an attack. The aircraft was under repair when Russia invaded Ukraine and hence it did not have the time to leave the country. 

Mriya, Ukrainian for “the dream”, was the world’s largest cargo aircraft. It was formally known as Cossack, its North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) operating code. 

The aircraft was originally developed for the transportation of the Buran shuttle orbiter and the Energia rocket. Both Buran and Energia were space missions of the erstwhile Soviet Union. The An-225 was also expected to be used as a flying space launching site in the reusable aerospace transport system. The aircraft was to be the first stage and a small-size space shuttle with a fuel tank the second.

Mriya had a wingspan of over 88 metres, and was 84 metres in length and 18.2 metres in height. It had an operational range of 15,400 km and a cruise speed of 800 km an hour. 

The aircraft was first approved for development in 1986. It was renamed Mriya in November 1988. The aircraft made its first flight on December 21, 1988 from Svyatoshyn. The first crew included Oleksandr Galunenko as captain, Sergii Gorbik as co-pilot, Sergii Nechayev as navigator, Oleksandr Shuleshchenko as senior flight engineer, Volodymyr Gusar as flight engineer, Vyacheslav Belousov as radio operator, and Mykhaylo Kharchenko as leading test flight engineer.

During its operational years, the An-225 undertook some record-setting flights. In June 2010, the aircraft delivered two wind turbine blades -- 42.1 meters each -- from China to Denmark for special testing.