What was formerly the world's largest aircraft, the Mriya, was destroyed during heavy fighting in the Hostomel airport, outside Kyiv earlier in the war.
Four months ago, at the beginning of the war, countless Ukrainians were demoralized when they learned that the world's largest cargo airplane, built in Ukraine, was destroyed in a fierce battle. The plane called Mriya, which means The Dream in Ukrainian language, was Ukraine's pride. Only one was built. It lay in a mangled wreckage. The efforts to resump Mriya got a huge lift this week. Richard Branson, the British billionaire and aerospace mogul, toured the airfield in Hostomel, a city near Kyiv where the plane was based. Ukrainian aerospace experts broached the idea of rebuilding it during the visit on Wednesday.
Branson, who has always voiced support for Ukraine during the war, did not say whether he would contribute to the effort to get the gargantuan craft aloft again. He wrote in his blog, I hope Mriya's legacy will continue. A Virgin Group spokeswoman said that Branson was assessing what would be needed to rebuild the plane, and that the effort would turn to finding ways that the international community could support the project, and help rebuild Ukraine's aviation industry. According to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, one Ukrainian lawmaker, David Arakhamia, said that Mr. Branson had expressed his willingness to help in any way he can. Ukrainian defenders ran them off, but in the process the airfield was destroyed and Mriya took a direct hit from an explosive shell.
The Antonov An 225 Mriya was heavier than any other plane in the sky, far more than a fully loaded 747, at 276 feet long and six stories high. Its nose cone flipped up so that turbine blades or even smaller jets could be slid into its cavernous belly. It, built in 1988 as part of the Soviet space program, was still flying around up until February, ferrying Covid supplies.
Ukrainian officials have pledged to rebuild it using a second half-finished Mriya fuselage that is in an airplane factory at an unidentified location. Ukrainian officials have said that the project could cost more than $1 billion and that they need outside help, which is why they were so excited about Mr. Branson's visit. Sad said something. The Ukrainian news media said that Mr. Branson was interested in helping rebuild the Hostomel airport. Ukraine issued a special commemorative Mriya postage stamp on Tuesday. It features a happy, colorful drawing of Mriya, penned by an 11-year-old schoolgirl, Sofiya Kravchuk, from western Ukraine. Three million stamps were made. They were expected to be sold out by the end of the week.