Although the Russian armed forces had already left the Gostomel airport, northwest of Kiev, a few months ago, the current scenario is still desolate. With much of its structure affected and emblematic aircraft destroyed, the place remains as a symbol of the ills brought by the war.
To show how the airport currently stands, which is also the main operational headquarters of Antonov Airlines, the team from the Czech website Fly Rosta toured the facility inside and out, resulting in a detailed video posted on their social media (available at the end of this post ). Among other things, the area where the Antonov AN-225 was parked and also the main building, where the Ukrainian manufacturer maintains its planes, are shown.
Although much of the dirt has already been removed, the aircraft remain exactly where they were when the Ukrainian army regained control of the place. In a previous video, made by pilot Dmytro Antonov, he commented that the scene would be preserved to support future investigations and that meant not moving the aircraft until the investigators released it.
Despite this, as can be seen in the images, the huge hangar under which the largest plane in the world rested, now destroyed, had its entire roof removed, due to the risk of collapse. Inside the maintenance hangar, meanwhile, an AN-124 (UR-82009) is shown to be badly damaged. There are bullet marks all over the fuselage, including a huge rip, as well as signs of fire on the rear.
In general, the entire structure there is significantly affected by the battles and there is still no information or a clear restoration project. Projects to renovate the entire structure, and even the construction of a passenger terminal at the airport, have already been discussed, but there is still no practical action in this direction.
The video produced by Fly Rosta is available below, at the point where the visit to Gostomel takes place.
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