The AN-225 was the real pride of Ukrainian engineering, created to transport the space industry equipment and heavy or oversized cargo up to 250 tons. However, in the first days of the full-scale war, Mriya was destroyed by the Russian army. Since then, the image of the Ukrainian bird was used all around the world to support the Ukrainians.

It all started in the mid-1970s, when the Soviet authorities planned the construction of large spacecraft of unprecedented weight. At the time, no means of transportation could deliver those over long distances, prompting the designers of the Antonov Plant to begin work on this future legend. 

The AN-225 aircraft came into being on November 30, 1988, with the inscription Mriya ("The Dream") on it applied the night before.

"Dreams take us forward and will not disappear for as long as we live on this planet. And, when an aircraft comes into being in Ukraine, let it carry a word from its language on board", aircraft designer Petro Balabuiev said that day.

A month later, Mriya made its first flight from the plant’s airfield in the Sviatoshyn district of Kyiv, and a year later, it broke the world record by lifting 156.3 tons into the air. Then, during the year, the aircraft set 110 more world records for cargo capacity, speed and altitude. By 2004, the AN-225 had already broken 240 of them, prompting the World Air Sports Federation to introduce it into the Guinness World Records, which was an unprecedented case in the history of aviation.

Huge queues of supporters gathered around Mriya at the 38th Paris International Air and Space Show in France, at the airshow in Vancouver, Canada, at the exhibition in Prague and many others. 

Over the past 20 years, the AN-225 has also carried out numerous humanitarian missions, delivering necessary goods to places affected by earthquakes, tsunamis and hurricanes. For example, in 2003, Mriya took part in the transportation of equipment for the humanitarian aid in Iraq, and in 2010, at the request of the Japanese government, delivered large construction equipment from Tokyo to help eliminate the consequences of the earthquake in Haiti.

The AN-225 had been through a lot, overcoming all crises and proving repeatedly that it was unique and irreplaceable. But the black day in Mriya’s history was February 27, 2022, when Russian troops attacked Hostomel Airport from the air, destroying the world's largest transport aircraft.

However, the Ukrainian "Dream" will not break, and the world’s most powerful Ukrainian aircraft will surely take to the skies again to be admired by all.