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| The world's biggest plane, a symbol of national pride for Ukrainians, was destroyed in the fighting. Picture: Alamy/Twitter |
International Military - Antonov is reportedly planning to raise funds for the repair of the An-225 aircraft. The An-225 was destroyed when Russia invaded Ukraine since last February. At that time, the An-225 aircraft was at Hostamel Airport which is the headquarters of the Antonov Company.
Hostamel Airport is in the center of the Ukrainian city of Kyiv, which is the main target of the Russian attack. Allegedly, Russia's original goal was to build bridges so that more troops would later be flown in.
Quoted from the aero time page, Antonov CEO Sergii Bychkov made an upload on his Facebook page. In his upload, CEO Antonov said that among all the planes in Ukraine, the An-225 was in a special place.
"Dear citizens of all countries in the world! Among all transport aircraft, the An-225 Mriya occupies a special place," he wrote. Not only that, he also said that the disappearance of the An-225 aircraft also made the loss of one of the symbols.
Until finally he decided to set up an international fund to re-build this aircraft. "We propose to establish an international fund for the revival of the An-225 Mriya transport aircraft," he wrote.
One of the conglomerates from the Ukrainian state explained that the restoration of the Antonov An-225 Mriya would cost $3 billion. In addition to a large amount of money, the restoration of the An-225 will also take about five years.
It is known that the An-225 Mriya has the meaning of a dream in Ukrainian. This aircraft was developed as part of the Soviet space program to transport the space shuttle Buran.
Not only that, the An-225 Mriya is also useful for carrying components from large rockets. It is capable of carrying up to 640 tonnes, making it the most powerful aircraft ever built.