Former Head of Security of Antonov Will be charged for the loss of the AN-225

 When the AN-225 was destroyed, I was trying to figure out why the plane wasn't flown out of the country before the attack, the Ukraine knew the attack was coming.  The "tells" were there and for some ungodly reason the plane was left, a strategic asset was left to be destroyed...Planes can fly away easily..unlike other assets, that had me stumped.  Well apparently the head of Security had his head up his ass and refused to release the plane.  Was it *MICE* (Money, Ideology, coercion or ego?)  It will be interesting how the trial will play out.

     The Article came from my work email,

 

The Antonov An-225 Mriya, the world’s largest cargo plane, destroyed in the Battle of Antonov Airport during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, stays in a ruined hangar in Hostomel, Kyiv Region, northern Ukraine.

 

 

Ukrainian prosecutors have informed the former head of Antonov of suspicion of crimes including failing to dispatch the An-225 Mriya airlifter before the Russian invasion last year and neglecting to renew an insurance policy.

The allegations have come out more than 13 months after Russian and Ukrainian forces fought a battle around Hostomel airport in the opening hours of the invasion. During a crossfire of small arms and artillery, the An-225 was destroyed, along with several Antonov-owned facilities around the airport. 

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on its Telegram social media channel on April 5 that Serhiy Bychkov, the then-director of state-owned Antonov, failed to approve an order that would have flown the An-225 to Leipzig, Germany, in the weeks before the battle. The An-225 was “in proper technical condition, which [would have] allowed it to fly outside Ukraine” at the time of the invasion, the SBU said on Telegram. 

Bychkov also failed to extend Antonov’s insurance contract, which resulted in $1.14 million in lost compensation payments, the SBU said. 

At the time of its destruction, the sole An-225 was the world’s largest air transport and the second-largest aircraft in the world. Only the Stratolaunch Roc, a space and hypersonic vehicle launch platform, is larger. 

Antonov built the An-225 to transport the Soviet space shuttle Buran in the 1980s. The Mriya instead operated as a commercial transport for out-size cargo. In the wake of the aircraft’s destruction, Antonov has committed to complete the assembly of the partially built second An-225 airframe after the war, although the cost and schedule have not been fixed.

     I clipped this from "Wiki", it had more information, I included the hyperlinks.

The aircraft's last commercial mission was from 2 to 5 February 2022, to collect almost 90 tons of COVID-19 test kits from Tianjin, China, and deliver them to Billund, Denmark, via Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.^[65][66] From there, it returned on 5 February to its base at Antonov Airport in Hostomel,^[66] where it underwent an engine swap.^[65] On the advice of NATO it was prepared for evacuation, scheduled for the morning of 24 February, but on that day Russia invaded, with the airfield being one of their first targets.^[65] A ban on civilian flights was quickly enacted by Ukrainian authorities.^[65] During the ensuing Battle of Antonov Airport, the runway was rendered unusable.^[65]

On 24 February, the An-225 was said to be intact.^[67] On 27 February, a photo was posted on Twitter of an object tentatively identified as the An-225 on fire in its hangar.^[68][69] A report by the Ukrainian edition of Radio Liberty stated that the airplane was destroyed during the Battle of Antonov Airport,^[70] which was repeated by Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba^[71] and by Ukroboronprom, Antonov's parent organisation.^[72] The Antonov company initially refused to confirm or deny the reports,^[73][70] and said it was still investigating them.^[74]

Also on 27 February, a press release by Ukroboronprom^[72] stated that the An-225 had been destroyed by Russian forces.^[75] Several other aircraft were in the same hangar as the An-225 at the time of its destruction, and were also destroyed or damaged during the battle; these include a Hungarian-registered Cessna 152, which was crushed by the An-225's left wingtip after the latter fell on top of it.^[76]

Ukroboronprom said that they planned to rebuild the plane at the Russians' expense.^[72] The statement said: "The restoration is estimated to take over 3 billion USD and over five years. Our task is to ensure that these costs are covered by the Russian Federation, which has caused intentional damage to Ukraine's aviation and the air cargo sector."^[77][78] The Ukrainian government also said that it would be rebuilt.^[78][79]

Aftermath

Destroyed Myria
The New York Times, April 2022
The New York Times, March 2023

On 1 March, a new photograph, taken since the initial conflict, was tentatively identified as the tail of the aircraft protruding from its hangar, suggesting that it remained at least partly intact, however, further evidence proved to show that the aircraft is inoperable due to the extreme damage it sustained.^[80] On 3 March, a video circulated on social media, showing the aircraft burning inside the hangar alongside several Russian trucks, confirming its likely destruction. Nonetheless, Antonov stated again that until the aircraft is inspected by experts, its official status could not be fully known.^[81][82] On 4 March, footage on Russian state television Channel One showed the first clear ground images of the destroyed aircraft, with much of the front section missing.^[80] Following Russia's withdrawal from northern Ukraine, the second unfinished aircraft airframe was reported to be intact, despite Russian artillery strikes on the hangar housing it at the Antonov factory at Sviatoshyn airfield.^[83][84]

Major Dmytro Antonov, the pilot of the An-225, alleged on 19 March 2022 that Antonov Airlines knew that an invasion was imminent for quite some time, but did nothing to prevent the loss of the aircraft. On his YouTube channel, Antonov accused company management of not doing enough to prevent the destruction of the aircraft, after having been advised by NATO to move the aircraft (ready to fly status) to Leipzig, Germany, in advance.^[85][86] Multiple Antonov staff have denied his allegations.^[87]

On 1 April, drone footage of Hostomel Airport showed the destroyed Mriya, with the forward fuselage completely burned and destroyed, but with the wings partly intact.^[88] It was later revealed that the right wing had been broken, but was held up only by its engines resting on the ground.^[89]

Investigations into rebuilding the An-225 are being undertaken, including the possibilities of cannibalising the second, incomplete An-225, or salvaging the remnants of the first plane to finish the second. However, there are several obstacles to rebuilding. Many of the aircraft's Soviet-made components were from the 1980s and are no longer made. Engineers quote a price of US$350–500 million, although there is uncertainty regarding whether or not it would be commercially viable and worth the cost.^[90] However, Andrii Sovenko, a former An-225 pilot and aviation author, said:^[90]

It's impossible to talk about the repair or restoration of this aircraft -- we can only talk about the construction of another Mriya, using individual components that can be salvaged from the wreckage and combining them with those that were, back in the 1980s, intended for the construction of a second aircraft.

On 20 May 2022, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced his intentions to complete the second An-225, to replace the destroyed aircraft and as a tribute to all the Ukrainian pilots killed during the war.^[91] In November 2022, Antonov confirmed plans to rebuild the aircraft at an estimated cost of $500 million.^[92] At the time, the company did not state whether parts from the wrecked aircraft and the incomplete airframe would be combined to create a new flying aircraft or where funding might come from.^[93] Four months later, Antonov confirmed that parts had been removed from the wrecked aircraft for future mating to the unfinished fuselage.^[89]

In March 2023, the Ukrainian government announced that it detained two of three Antonov officials suspected of preventing the Ukrainian National Guard from setting up defenses at Hostomel Airport in anticipation of an invasion.^[94]