It was based at the Antonov airfield, which was captured very early by the Russian special forces and then held for several days under massive assaults from the Ukrainian forces. Whichever side actually destroyed the plane (I would assume it was a Ukrainian artillery barrage), it was almost certainly not done purposefully.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Antonov_Airport

>> Why wouldn't the Russians want to use this plane in the future?

Russian-owned and operated transport aircraft arent going to be flying much internationally for a while. Many of the an-225's customers are on the other side of sanctions walls.

Years ago there were rumors, that they are developing their own super-heavy cargo plane. https://vimeo.com/103542677 Not sure if that project ever went further than the demo video though

It's also an incredibly powerful symbol of Ukrainian engineering and flight expertise. Antonov is a Ukrainian company.

It was built in 1988. If anything, it was an incredibly powerful symbol of Soviet engineering and flight expertise.

Contrary to popular view, people living in the Soviet Union didn't lose their national identities.

I don't see a lot of value in this line of argument, but want to make several things clear. You impute a single national identity to the plane designers and engineers based on their physical location. Setting aside the fact that the construction bureau itself was relocated to Kiev from Novosibirsk in the late 50s, the people who worked there came from all over in the Soviet Union. Tolmachev and Antonov certainly did not have the national identity you impute.

Regardless, it was a Soviet engineering outfit, not a Russian or Ukrainian one. Just like Chernobyl was a Soviet project and failure, not a Russian or Ukrainian one.

It's hame is in Ukrainian, not Russian, so yes, there's certainly a national identity to the plane :)

Ah, to the plane! Yes, of course -- just like the national identity of Hughes H-4 is Greco-Roman. :)

If the Hughes H-4 were built and designed in a state of Greco-Romans, and were the first airplane authorized to have a non-American name, you could make that argument.