Antonov's ex-director charged over destruction of An-225 "Mriya" aircraft

The former director of the state enterprise Antonov has been served a notice of suspcion due to the destruction of the An-225 "Mriya" aircraft at the Hostomel airport in the first day of Russia's invasion, reported the National Police and the Prosecutor General's Office.

The top manager is charged with official negligence (Part 2 of Article 367 of the Criminal Code), which led to the imposition of damages in the amount of UAH 8.4 billion ($228 million).

The investigation believes that he should have sent the plane to Leipzig in advance.

"The crew was ready to take off, but the head of the company did not give the order to relocate the plane," the police said.

As a result, during an air attack by Russian troops on the airport in Hostomel, the "Mriya" burned down.

The police are checking information about the possibility of evacuating six more planes, in particular An-124 "Ruslan", which were also at the Hostomel airfield at the time.

SE Antonov was headed by Serhiy Bychkov from November 2020 to April 2022.

As a result of hostilities at the international airport "Antonov" in Hostomel, three An aircraft were destroyed: An-225 "Mriya", turboprop An-26 and An-74, known as "Cheburashka".

In addition, the latest An-132, which was developed in 2016-2017 for Saudi Arabia, and one of the An-124-100-150 "Ruslans" were damaged. The An-12, the recently restored An-22 "Antey" and the light twin-engine An-28 were damaged.

The control tower and the airport administration building were destroyed.