Photos: Weird Afterlife of Ukraine Mriya

New images show a flurry of activity around the wreck of the legendary Antonov Mriya-225, the world's largest plane.

A point of Ukrainian national pride, the vast Soviet-era cargo plane was destroyed by Russian forces in the opening days of its full-scale assault on the country in February 2022.

It was parked at Hostomel airport, not far from Kyiv, and a scene of intense fighting. The aviation world mourned images of the wrecked jet — but exactly what will become of it has proved a mystery.

In May that year, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy threw his support behind rebuilding the craft despite its estimated cost of $800 million, Interfax Ukraine reported.

The sorry state of the once-magnificent craft was clearly illustrated in this picture from April 2022:

Now, images dating to August 10 this year show how the scene has changed. In one image, the fuselage is surrounded by struts, scaffolding and equipment. They were taken by Ukraine-based aircraft-spotter Vasily Koba.

Another, below, appears to show one of the Mriya-225's massive wings carefully mounted on supports with its engines removed.

They suggest intensive work has taken place since the spring, when images showed the plane in the midst of being dismantled.

The photo below, from April 2023, appears to show the same wing as above, but still partly attached to the plane, with a burnt-out engine still affixed.

The new images add to the long-running question of whether another Mriya-225 will ever take to the airagain. Due to the extent of the damage, repairing the original craft seems impossible.

According to Popular Mechanics, a sister craft to the Mriya-225 was in construction prior to the full-scale invasion but never finished. It survived the onslaught without too much damage, the outlet reported.

In November 2022, the Antonov company announced it would rebuild the plane, telling CNN that work was under way. The cost was estimated at around $500 million, CNN reported.

The German tabloid newspaper Bild, which shares a publisher with Insider, quoted Antonov's General Director Eugene Gavrylov as saying the work was taking place in a secret location.

Gavrylov said both new parts and parts recovered from the original craft would be added to the uncompleted sister plane.

Soon after, however, Antonov said that there had been some inaccuracy around the reporting of the rebuild, without specifying what it was. The statement reiterated that construction was under way and said around 30% of the parts were secured.

It said that it would only release more information after the war, and more recently did not respond to Insider's request for comment.

Even with the parts and progress currently available, however, a new Mriya-225 may take some time. Remaking the plane would involve parts and construction facilities that no longer exist in Ukraine, Popular Mechanics reported.

Read next