“Ukraine Diverts Mriya Restoration Funds to Flower Beds.” Fake News Allege Fact-Checked

On May 31, 2024, the Telegram channel “ZhS Premium” posted a photo of a flower bed in the shape of the Mriya aircraft, destroyed by Russian forces at the Antonov airport near Kyiv, with the caption suggesting that Ukrainians were wasting money on flowers beds instead of restoring the aircraft. 

“It’s 2024 and the shape of the 'Mriya' is starting to emerge, but not in blueprints or assembly shops, but in a flower bed in Kyiv. Here’s a task for Ukrainian corruption investigators: was the money spent on flowers or the plane?” the post said.

The An-225 Mriya is a one-of-a-kind cargo aircraft with the largest carrying capacity in the world, built in Kyiv in the late 1980s for the space program. It was destroyed in the first days of the war with Russia. Ukraine has declared its intention to restore the aircraft, but it will take time and significant funds.

The photo shared by “ZhS Premium” is from 2022. According to the Kyiv Administration, the flower composition, made of ten thousand flowers, appeared in Kyiv in May 2022.