SBU: Ex-Antonov officials are guilty of destroying Mriya. They face up to 15 years in prison
28 February 2024 09:06
The Security Service of Ukraine has completed an investigation into the destruction of the legendary Mriya cargo plane and found that former officials of the state-owned Antonov enterprise were responsible. This was reported by Kommersant Ukrainsky 
with reference to the SBU press service.
“The Security Service has gathered indisputable evidence of the guilt of former Antonov officials: the CEO and the head of the aviation security unit. The criminal actions of the ex-officials led to the temporary seizure of a strategically important airfield during the battles for Kyiv and the destruction of the AN-225 Mriya aircraft,”
– the statement said.
According to the investigation, in January-February 2022, the two men did not allow National Guard units to enter the Gostomel airport to prepare for the defence of the facility.
The SBU completed the pre-trial investigation and sent the indictment to court. The suspects are charged under Part 2 of Article 27, Part 2 of Article 114-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (obstruction of the lawful activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations). Under this article, they face up to 15 years in prison. Both are currently in custody.
During this period of time, Sergiy Bychkov was the CEO of Antonov, and Oleksandr Netiosov was the head of the security service. Bychkov was suspended from work on 29 March 2022 and detained on 9 March 2023.
A year ago, the case involved Mykhailo Kharchenko, the acting director general of Antonov, who was in hiding. He was then hiding from law enforcement and was served with a suspicion in absentia, but in the current SBU report, he is no longer listed as a suspect without any explanation.
“Mriya”
The An-225 Mriya was the largest, most powerful and heaviest transport aircraft in the world. It was designed in 1988 by the Kyiv Antonov Design Bureau. It was designed to transport cargo for the Soviet space programme. After the collapse of the USSR, it became the property of Ukraine. There was a single copy of the aircraft.
The empty weight of the aircraft was about 250 tonnes, and the maximum take-off weight was 640 tonnes.
The Mriya made its first commercial flight in 2001, when it transported 187.5 tonnes of food for the US military from Stuttgart, Germany, to Oman.
The maximum commercial cargo carried by the Mriya was 247 tonnes, and the overall Mriya cargo capacity record was 153.8 tonnes.
In total, the aircraft has set 240 records in air cargo. It is listed in the Guinness Book of Records.
The distance flown by the Wright brothers during the first flight in history is less than the length of the Mriya’s cargo compartment.
“The Mriya was destroyed by the Russians during an air attack on the Gostomel airport on 27 February 2022. The aircraft was in the hangar for repairs at the time. The German newspaper Bild reported that it was supposed to be transported to Germany on the eve of the invasion, but the then-management never gave the order to fly. The crew commander then accused Antonov’s management of inaction.
