SSU is checking whether Antonov employees helped Russia to destroy Mriya
Employees of the Security Service of Ukraine, as part of a criminal investigation, are investigating employees of Antonov State Enterprise for alleged cooperation with Russia, which could have led to the destruction of the world’s largest An-225 Mriya aircraft at the beginning of a full-scale invasion.
As Censor.NET informs, this was reported by the Prosecutor General's Office in response to a request from Ukrinform.
"Prosecutors of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office in the military and defense sphere of the Office of the Prosecutor General carry out procedural management of pre-trial investigations in criminal proceedings on the fact that the officials of the State Enterprise "Antonov" may have provided assistance to a foreign state - the Russian Federation - or its representatives in carrying out subversive activities against Ukraine, which led to the destruction of the An-225 "Mriya" aircraft and others during the military aggression of the armed forces of the Russian Federation," the message reads.
It is noted that the case is being investigated by the Main Investigative Department of the SSU. Investigative actions are ongoing, a number of examinations have been conducted in the case.
In addition, the OGP informed that the employees of the Main Investigative Department of the National Police are also investigating the case of improper performance of their official duties by the officials of the State Enterprise "Antonov". In particular, the An-225 Mriya aircraft was not evacuated, which led to its destruction during the military aggression of the armed forces of the Russian Federation.
As reported at the end of February of this year, as a result of an air attack by Russian troops on the Hostomel airport near Kyiv, one of the largest and most powerful aircraft in the world, the Ukrainian-made An-225 "Mriya", was burned.
The commander of the An-225 "Mriya" Dmytro Antonov told "Glavkom" in an interview that the "Mriya" plane could have been saved. In particular, at the time of the invasion of the Russian Federation, DP Antonov had a reserve airfield leased for 5 years in Leipzig, Germany, a NATO airfield specifically for "Mriya". The crew of the liner was ready to take off from Hostomel to Germany in the morning of February 24 and even started the engines, but they never received the take-off command.
The commander of the aircraft emphasized that the pilots could not have taken the aircraft without the command team, but there was a lot of evidence that the aircraft from Hostomel needed to be moved as soon as possible.
At the end of March, DK "Ukroboronprom" suspended the director of SE "Antonov" Serhiy Bychkov.
On April 4, 2022, the head of the Ukroboronprom concern, Yuriy Husev, signed order No. 141, according to which Bychkov was finally dismissed from the position of general director of the Antonov state-owned enterprise.
