World’s largest plane destroyed during Russian invasion made a stop at Kansas airport

Ukrainian government officials say the Russian military destroyed the world’s largest aircraft — the Antonov-225 Mriya, or “dream” — at an airfield near Kyiv.

And Ukraine’s government is using the plane to rally worldwide support on social media for its defense against the Russian invasion.

Ukraine posted on Twitter an image of the aircraft with the caption “They burned the biggest plane, but our Mriya will never perish”. It had been shared tens of thousands of times.

The Associated Press reports that Ukraine’s defense industry conglomerate has confirmed the An-225 Mriya was heavily damaged. The Ukroboronprom company said in a statement that the plane was “destroyed” and estimated rebuilding it would cost $3 billion.

The plane was built in 1988 as part of the Soviet Union’s space program but remained in Ukraine after the country became independent in 1991. At the time, it had the largest wingspan of any aircraft in operational service and was the heaviest plane in the sky.

According to the AP, the An-225 is the largest regularly operational plane in the world. Only two planes have been built with larger wingspans — the Stratolaunch and the Hughes “Spruce Goose” — but each was used only for a single flight.

In the United States, the mammoth aircraft often attracted aviation aficionados who wanted to see the six-engine plane’s 290-foot wingspan.

The Ukrainian airlift cargo plane made a stop in Wichita in 2012 to deliver components for Coffeyville Resources, an oil refinery in Coffeyville.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine last week. The An-225 was reportedly at the Hostomel Airport when Russian forces attacked it on Thursday.

Ukroboronprom put out a statement over the weekend claiming that the Russian Federation should have to pay to rebuild the gigantic cargo plane.

“The restoration is estimated to take over 3 billion USD and over five years,” the statement said. “Our task is to ensure that these costs are covered by the Russian Federation, which has caused intentional damage to Ukraine’s aviation and the air cargo sector.”