New photos from Hostomel Airport outside Kyiv confirm that the Antonov AN-225 ‘Mriya’ (Dream) has been destroyed, likely beyond repair. Here’s a look back at the life of the world’s largest cargo aircraft and single most popular aircraft to track on Flightradar24 ever.
In need of a giant—building the AN-225

The Antonov An-225 ‘Mriya’ was originally developed as a transport for the Buran space plane and the rocket boosters that would carry it to space. It was slated to replace the Myasischev VM-T Atlant as the Soviet Union’s heaviest lifter. Based on the smaller An-124, the An-225 shares a similar forward loading method of ‘kneeling’ to load cargo through its large open front when the nose is tilted skyward. The empennage was redesigned with twin vertical stabilizers to enable the carriage of large external loads, like the Buran, leaving the An-225 without a rear cargo door.