Hostomel, Ukraine
CNN
—
The sheared nose cone of the Antonov An-225 cargo plane towers over Yevhen Bashynsky.
Affectionately known as the Mriya, or “Dream,” the leviathan plane was the pride of Ukraine and of 38-year-old Bashynsky, one of its pilots.
This is the first time Bashynsky has come back to see what remains of the Mriya.
“It is very hard to be here and to see all of this situation. Destroyed plane, destroyed hangars. It is quite hard to see,” he says.
In the first hours of the war, elite Russian paratroopers descended on the Antonov airfield, a major cargo airport in Hostomel, to the northwest of Kyiv. It was supposed to be an anchor point to attack the capital. The assault did not go as planned. Russian troops inside the airport were encircled, with no chance to bring in reinforcements quickly.
Word soon got out in aviation…
2023-04-06 23:02:37
Source from www.cnn.com