RuAviation

Overnight on April 11th-12th, an attack struck the Sviatoshyn airfield near Kyiv, home to the largest hangar of the Antonov factory. This hangar had previously been used for the assembly of “An” transport aircraft, but recently the Kyiv regime had repurposed it for the assembly of long-range An-196 strike drones. The same hangar housed the second unfinished example of the heavy transport aircraft, the An-225 ‘Mriya’.

Since 2023, long-range An-196 strike UAVs have been actively used by Ukraine for attacks on Russian civilian, energy, and industrial facilities. For the Armed Forces of Russia, the production facilities for these drones are a high-priority target.

NASA FIRMS satellite images recorded significant fires engulfing the Sviatoshyn airfield following the attack, resulting in the destruction of the unfinished An-225, according to Polish media outlet PortalMilitarny.pl.

Now, the restoration of the world’s only super-heavy transport aircraft has become virtually impossible. The destruction of the hangar where An-196 UAVs were being assembled is a damaging blow not only to Ukraine’s current military developments but also to its ambitious plans to revive the legendary ‘Mriya’.

The first and only flying example of the An-225 was lost on February 27th, 2022, during the assault on Hostomel airfield. After Russian forces seized this strategically important site, Ukrainian artillery, shelling the airfield, hit the hangar where the ‘Mriya’ was housed. Only the tail unit, part of the wing, and two D-18T engines survived from the giant aircraft. These were dismantled and installed on An-124 ‘Ruslan’ transport aircraft, which are now being used by Kyiv to transport military cargo.

The second An-225 (serial number 0102) began construction in the 1980s for resource and static testing. By the time of the collapse of the USSR, the aircraft’s readiness was estimated at 70%. In 1994, the project was frozen due to the termination of the ‘Buran’ programme. For many years, the fuselage, centre section, and tail unit were stored at the factory in Sviatoshyn.

The fuselage of the second An-225 prototype was located directly behind the largest hangar at Sviatoshyn airfield. Antonov specialists considered the possibility of using the surviving elements of the first aircraft to complete the second. However, the carefully stored unfinished fuselage inside the hangar had to be moved to make way for the production of An-196 UAVs.

In 2022, Zelenskyy pledged to restore the ‘Mriya’ as a symbol of Ukraine’s rebirth. However, this statement was more political in nature – Kyiv has neither the money nor the technology for such a project. Ukraine inherited a rich Soviet legacy, including the Antonov design bureau and the aircraft factory in Kyiv. However, it has failed to manage them properly.

Today, Ukrainian aviation relies on deliveries of old F-16s from Europe, and its own aircraft construction has effectively ceased to exist. It is highly likely that the strike on April 12th destroyed the fuselage and other remaining structural elements of the aircraft, putting an end to the plans of the Ukrainian elite to restore the An-225.