The Antonov AN-225, also known as the Mirya, was a plane designed by the USSR to carry their space shuttle, as they did not have good highways to transport it via ground. It had a very unique twin-tail setup as opposed to the single tail with most planes. This was because in flights the Mirya was designed to do, it had a large thing blocking airflow to that single tail (you can see the single tail in the smaller AN-124). However, the Mirya only had a few flights with the space shuttle, the Buran, before a not so small bump in the road caused the test flights to be stopped. The collapse of the Soviet Union. The Buran and another Russian space shuttle went to a hangar in Kazakhstan (I think), where they still are today, in a sorry state of disrepair. The Mirya had a much happier life. It went to Ukraine, which after it gained economic stability, went on to break several records for cargo plane things, like largest plane, largest payload, stuff like that. It was staying in Kiev when the Russians decided to bomb some airfields, unfortunately, the famed Antonov AN-225 was in a hangar on that airstrip. It was burned to a crisp, and the once legendary behemoth of the sky was no more than a pile of ashes and a cockpit. "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!" That was the Ukrainian foreign minister speaking about the destruction of the Mirya. The Ukrainians have said that they will rebuild the Mirya, despite the cost of $3.8 billion USD. They have also said that Russia will be the ones paying the $3.8 billion USD. Good news to aviation enthusiasts and Russians alike, there have been whispers of a 70% complete Mirya somewhere in Russia or Ukraine, which will make rebuilding it much easier. For now, all we can do is hope this brutal war comes to an end and the Mirya shell can be found. Shoot I just wrote a whole dang book about the Mirya
