According to the first photos uploaded to Twitter, more than a month after the fighting, several press photographers with the Ukrainian military entered the premises of the international cargo and Antonov airport in Kyiv-Hostomel. They were able to capture the remains of the Antonov Airlines flagship.
The pride of Ukrainian aviation, the 1988-built Antonov An-225, which was flown back to its home airport northwest of Kyiv for maintenance in early February and was parked in a semi-open hangar, little remains but charred debris.
Especially the front part of the fuselage is hardly recognizable because nothing is left of the cockpit. Just the white nose of the plane, riddled with shrapnel and bullets. Of the six engines – one was just being overhauled – five are still hanging on the almost broken wings, one of which is completely destroyed.
The images now published by the agency confirm the total loss of the An-225, which is a further development of the Antonov An-124. The enlarged version was originally developed for Soviet space travel to piggyback on the Buran space shuttle.
In the past two years, the cargo plane has repeatedly brought medical supplies such as masks, rapid tests and protective suits from China to Europe on countless charter flights.
“The sadness is simply indescribable,” said Dmytro Antonov, one of the plane’s pilots, during a first tour of the debris landscape. “I just realized that it was exactly two months ago that I was on my last trip. I could never have imagined something like this happening.”
Also read:
– Total loss in Kyiv: New photos and videos show the destroyed Antonov An-225
– An-124: Why the Antonovs are so important for NATO and the US economy
– Before the destruction of the “Mriya”: NATO probably recommended Antonov to relocate the An-225 from the Ukraine