Mriya, the world’s largest plane, has been destroyed by Russia amid the onslaught, according to Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. Mriya means 'dream' in Ukrainian.
"A symbol of hope in the darkest hours of COVID, Mriya (Dream), the world’s largest plane, carried vast quantities of life-saving vaccine and PPE around the globe. It is now destroyed by Russian invaders in its war against Ukraine and the wider world (sic)," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs tweeted.
"Russia may have destroyed our ‘Mriya’. But they will never be able to destroy our dream of a strong, free and democratic European state. We shall prevail!," Dmytro Kuleba tweeted.
Mriya had been sitting in its hangar at a Ukrainian air base in Hostomel. The Russian military has taken control of the airbase.
The aircraft first took off in 1988. It was used to transport large amounts of humanitarian aid around the world, especially at short notice.
Mriya was 84 meters long (276 feet) and it could transport up to 250 tonnes (551,000 pounds) of cargo at a speed of up to 850 kilometres per hour (528 mph). The cargo plane was operated by Ukraine's Antonov Airlines.
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