---
title: "This Is Our First Tragic Look At All That’s Left Of Ukraine’s Giant An-225 Cargo jet"
description: "The entire front of the An-225, the world's large operational plane, is totally destroyed."
date: "2022-03-04"
modified: "2022-03-04"
authors:
  - name: "Tyler Rogoway"
    job_title: "Editor-in-Chief"
    link: "https://www.twz.com/authors/tyler-rogoway"
url: "https://www.twz.com/44575/we-finally-get-a-tragic-look-of-all-thats-left-of-the-giant-an-225-mriya-cargo-jet"
categories:
  - "Air"
  - "An-225"
  - "Around The Globe"
  - "Civil Aviation"
  - "Europe"
  - "News & Features"
  - "Russia"
  - "Transports"
  - "Ukraine"
tags:
  - "AN-225"
  - "Antonov"
  - "Antonov Airport"
  - "destroyed"
  - "Dream"
  - "Hostomel airport"
  - "invasion"
  - "Mriya"
  - "russia"
  - "Ukraine"
---

# This Is Our First Tragic Look At All That’s Left Of Ukraine’s Giant An-225 Cargo jet

![](<https://www.twz.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-twz/content/2022/03/AN-225-destoryed-Hostomel-airport.jpg>)
*www.twz.com*

After a week in which the fate of the world's largest operational aircraft, the one-of-a-kind [Antonov An-225 Mriya (Dream)](<https://www.twz.com/22146/take-an-amazing-flight-on-the-tail-of-the-an-225-mriya-the-worlds-largest-plane>), [hung in the balance](<https://www.twz.com/44504/first-sight-of-giant-an-225-cargo-jet-since-russian-invasion-shows-its-tail-intact>), we now have our first clear view of its condition and it's anything but a pretty sight.

https://twitter.com/\_/status/1499643176998641664

The giant cargo jet looks largely destroyed, with its nose, wings, and some of its engines badly damaged. Some of the empennage looks intact, but to what extent remains unknown. A satellite image from a couple of days ago s[hows the An-225's tail still in place](<https://www.twz.com/44504/first-sight-of-giant-an-225-cargo-jet-since-russian-invasion-shows-its-tail-intact>), but now we know that was the best news hiding under the giant shelter at Hostomel Airport.

![message-editor%2F1646380006637-fm\_o7ubwyaaqrxi.jpeg](<https://www.twz.com/wp-content/uploads/content-b/message-editor%2F1646380006637-fm_o7ubwyaaqrxi.jpeg>)
**Twitter Screencap**

It's this airport, the place where Antonov Airlines bedded down their famous giant, that became one of the most hotly contested strips of land in all of Ukraine after Russia's invasion began. A pitched battle has been waged for it over the last week. In the process, *massive* damage has been done to the airfield and its flying inhabitants, including the prized Mirya. The airfield is located just to the northwest of Kyiv.

![message-editor%2F1646381144071-fmuhdmnxeaie7gc.jpeg](<https://www.twz.com/wp-content/uploads/content-b/message-editor%2F1646381144071-fmuhdmnxeaie7gc.jpeg>)
*Hostomel Airport photographed via satellite on February 28th, 2022., *Planet Labs**

If Ukraine defeats Russia in the end, maybe the aircraft's undamaged parts can be used to help [complete the remaining unfinished An-225 fuselage](<https://www.twz.com/44496/ukraines-giant-an-225-cargo-jet-might-be-destroyed-but-a-new-dream-could-rise>), but for now, that is just another 'dream.'

In the end airplanes, buildings, [and ships](<https://www.twz.com/44563/the-ukrainian-navys-flagship-appears-to-have-been-scuttled>) can all be rebuilt or replaced. The mounting human suffering in this conflict, and the lives that have been lost in it, are the true tragedy. Lives simply cannot be replaced.

Still, that doesn't mean we still can't be angered and saddened by the loss of an aviation icon in a pointless war that should have never happened in the first place.

*Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com*

## Author
Tyler’s passion is the study of military technology, strategy, as well as foreign policy, and he has fostered a dominant voice on those topics in the defense and national security space. Tyler was the creator of the hugely popular defense site *Foxtrot Alpha* before developing *TWZ*, which he continues to lead as the Editor-In-Chief to this day.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/Aviation_Intel>)