{"id":1349164,"date":"2022-02-28T12:21:54","date_gmt":"2022-02-28T17:21:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1349164"},"modified":"2022-02-28T12:22:40","modified_gmt":"2022-02-28T17:22:40","slug":"ukraines-government-claims-worlds-largest-cargo-plane-destroyed-at-contested-airport-near-kyiv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ukraines-government-claims-worlds-largest-cargo-plane-destroyed-at-contested-airport-near-kyiv\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine\u2019s Government Claims World\u2019s Largest Cargo Plane Destroyed at Contested Airport Near Kyiv"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fukraines-government-claims-worlds-largest-cargo-plane-destroyed-at-contested-airport-near-kyiv%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1349164&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Ukrainian government said Sunday that \u201cthe world\u2019s largest aircraft\u201d has been destroyed at a strategically important airport outside <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-kyiv\">Kyiv<\/a> amid a Russian attack.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was the world\u2019s largest aircraft, AN-225 \u2018Mriya\u2019 (\u2018Dream\u2019 in Ukrainian),\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-ukraine\">Ukraine<\/a>\u2019s\u2019 Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter alongside a photo of the plane. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-russia\">Russia<\/a> may have destroyed our \u2018Mriya. But they will never be able to destroy our dream of a strong, free and democratic European state. We shall prevail!\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">This was the world\u2019s largest aircraft, AN-225 \u2018Mriya\u2019 (\u2018Dream\u2019 in Ukrainian). Russia may have destroyed our \u2018Mriya\u2019. But they will never be able to destroy our dream of a strong, free and democratic European state. We shall prevail! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/TdnBFlj3N8\">pic.twitter.com\/TdnBFlj3N8<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DmytroKuleba\/status\/1497947370008547332?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 27, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Celebrated as an engineering marvel, the Antonov An-225 is the only one of its kind. The enormous plane is equipped with three jet engines on each wing, supporting a maximum take-off weight of 600 metric tons, or 1.3 million pounds. By comparison, Lockheed Martin\u2019s C-5M Super Galaxy, the largest cargo plane in service for the U.S. Air Force, has a maximum take-off weight of 840,000 pounds.<\/p>\n<p>Rumors that the Mriya was damaged or destroyed began to emerge on Feb. 24, when a battle broke out over the control of the Ukrainian skies, as part of Russia\u2019s full-scale military offensive against the Eastern European country in the name of a \u201cspecial operation.\u201d Shortly after bombing the Kyiv-Boryspil International <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-airport\">Airport<\/a>, the Russians extended the air battle to Hostomel-Antonov Airport, where Mriya was sheltered.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4305231\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/an-225_02-1200x673-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-large wp-image-4305231\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/an-225_02-1200x673-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"359\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-4305231\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/an-225_02-1200x673-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"359\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> An Antonov An-225 is pictured prior to take off from Kiev airport, on May 10, 2016. (Genya Savilov\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<p>In the following days, conflicting claims about the fate of the Mriya proliferated on social media. Numerous reports claimed that the six-engine plane was destroyed in a hangar fire as the result of the fighting, while Dmytro Antonov, chief pilot at the airline company that runs Hostomel, said on Facebook that the Mriya remained \u201cwhole\u201d even after its home airport fell under Russian control.<\/p>\n<p>Hostomel, which serves primarily as a commercial cargo center, is located just 15 miles northwest from Kyiv. It has a long runway capable of landing of heavy-lift transport planes, which means Russia could use it to quickly move troops and supplies to Kyiv\u2019s outskirts.<\/p>\n<p>Russian helicopters and airborne forces attacked and seized Hostomel in the early morning of Feb. 24, only to face a fierce counter-attack by the local troops later in the day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe enemy paratroopers in Hostomel have been blocked, and troops have received an order to destroy them,\u201d Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/live-news\/20220224-battle-underway-for-airbase-on-kyiv-outskirts\" data-analytics-module=\"body_link\" data-analytics-post-depth=\"40\" data-uri=\"9234e09e60ff446a5538fa02b0ebb94d\">reported Agence France-Presse.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, <span class=\"yKMVIe\" role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"1\">Oleksiy Arestovych<\/span>, an adviser to Zelensky, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/alexey.arestovich\/posts\/5245441995519838\">declared on Facebook<\/a> that \u201cHostomel Airport is ours,\u201d and that \u201cRussian paratroopers have been destroyed.\u201d The Epoch Times could not confirm the exact status of the airport.<\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-gq-pan\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/WEB_GQ_PAN.jpg\" alt=\"Bill Pan\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Ukrainian government said Sunday that \u201cthe world\u2019s largest aircraft\u201d has been destroyed at a strategically important airport outside Kyiv amid a Russian attack. \u201cThis was the world\u2019s largest aircraft,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1349164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1349164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1349164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1349164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1349164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1349164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1349164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}