The Antonov An-225 Mriya, the world’s largest cargo plane, destroyed in the Battle of Antonov Airport during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, stays in a ruined hangar in Hostomel, Kyiv Region, northern Ukraine.
Ukrainian prosecutors have informed the former head of Antonov of suspicion of crimes including failing to dispatch the An-225 Mriya airlifter before the Russian invasion last year and neglecting to renew an insurance policy.
The allegations have come out more than 13 months after Russian and Ukrainian forces fought a battle around Hostomel airport in the opening hours of the invasion. During a crossfire of small arms and artillery, the An-225 was destroyed, along with several Antonov-owned facilities around the airport.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on its Telegram social media channel on April 5 that Serhiy Bychkov, the then-director of state-owned Antonov, failed to approve an order that would have flown the An-225 to Leipzig, Germany, in the weeks before the battle. The An-225 was “in proper technical condition, which [would have] allowed it to fly outside Ukraine” at the time of the invasion, the SBU said on Telegram.
Bychkov also failed to extend Antonov’s insurance contract, which resulted in $1.14 million in lost compensation payments, the SBU said.
At the time of its destruction, the sole An-225 was the world’s largest air transport and the second-largest aircraft in the world. Only the Stratolaunch Roc, a space and hypersonic vehicle launch platform, is larger.
Antonov built the An-225 to transport the Soviet space shuttle Buran in the 1980s. The Mriya instead operated as a commercial transport for out-size cargo. In the wake of the aircraft’s destruction, Antonov has committed to complete the assembly of the partially built second An-225 airframe after the war, although the cost and schedule have not been fixed.
