Mar. 4—A viral video of the ruins of AN-225 Mriya, the world's largest aircraft that was destroyed by Russians in Ukraine, has now gone viral.
Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba had taken to Twitter and announced that Mriya, whom he addressed the country's national pride, had been destroyed. "This was the world's largest aircraft, AN-225 'Mriya' ('Dream' in Ukrainian). 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!," Kuleba had tweeted.
A viral video doing rounds on social media shows black smoke coming out of the aircraft at an aerodrome near Kyiv.
However, the aircraft manufacturer Antonov tweeted an update on the viral video, stating that the technical experts were inspecting the current condition of the aircraft. It asked the netizens to wait for any official announcement on the condition of the aircraft.
According to Ukroboronprom, the company which manages Antonov, issued a statement saying it would cost three billion dollars to restore the plane to its original condition and the process would be time consuming, news website Metro reported.
Designed and built in Ukraine, the AN-225 Mriya took its first flight on December 21, 1988. Considered the world's largest aircraft, it has six engines, 32 wheels and a huge 88.4 metre wingspan. The Mriya had set the world record of the heaviest payload carried by a single plane: 253 tonnes.
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