Footage Emerges Of The An-225 Mriya Almost Destroyed In Hangar At Hostomel Airport

March 3, 2022 Russia, Troubled Areas, War in Ukraine
David Cenciotti
An-225 destroyed
A screenshot of the video from Gostomel airport showing the damaged Antonov hangar.

A clip allegedly filmed last week shows what remains of the An-225 Mriya (Dream) in a hangar of Antonov Airlines airport.

Last week, we reported that posts on social media claimed the only operational An-225 Mriya, the world’s heaviest aircraft, had been “damaged” during a battle for Antonov Airport, also called “Hostomel” or “Gostomel” Airport, located in a northwestern suburb of Kyiv.  The rumours eventually found an official confirmation when two different Ukrainian Government accounts posted that the aircraft had been destroyed in the fightings between Russian and Ukrainian forces.

CNN reported that NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System detected multiple fires at the airport, including at the hangar where the plane is stored. A fire took place at the hangar where the plane is kept and was detected at 11:13 a.m. on Sunday, according to the NASA data.

Despite the statements from the official accounts of the Government, Antonov Airlines had not confirmed the actual status of the giant aircraft, leaving hope that the An-225 might have been damaged but not totally destroyed in the attack.

Some hope was also supported by satellite photos of the airfield, imagery taken on Feb. 28, 2022, that showed a damaged hangar but at least a chunk of the aircraft’s tail still intact.

However, a short video clip, which started to circulate on Mar. 3, 2022, allegedly filmed on Feb. 25 or 26, seems to confirm that little has actually survived of the nose section of the iconic cargo aircraft, world’s largest one. A quick verification we have carried out on the video seems to confirm the video is genuine and not doctored. The video was also shared by Antonov Airlines Twitter account, although the company’s stance is still to wait for their experts to make a site survey and assess the technical conditions of the aircraft. Still, at the moment, we don’t know when their team will have a chance to safely visit Gostomel airport and carry out the required inspection.

We will continue to update our customers as new details emerge.

About David Cenciotti
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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.