The largest plane in the world, Ukraine’s Antonov-225 cargo plane was on Sunday destroyed by Russian strikes outside Kyiv, Ukraine’s state-owned Ukroboronprom group said in a statement.
“Russian invaders destroyed the flagship of the Ukrainian aviation, the AN-225” at the Antonov airport in Gostomel near Kyiv, the statement reads in part.
Confirming the incident, Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in a tweet on Sunday said “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!”.
At 84 meters long (276 feet) the plane could transport up to 250 tonnes (551,000 pounds) of cargo at a speed of up to 850 kilometers per hour (528 mph). It had been named “Mriya”, which means “dream” in Ukrainian language.
